The forgotten Uchiha
by Mcallba
Summary: A project for my creative writing class. To quote my teacher, "Pick a manga and follow the story line, inserting your own character." Follow the life of Malkeru Inuzuka as he tries to discover who he is, and why he was put up for adoption. First submission, and terrible at summaries. Please rate and review! Rating M simply so I don't have to limit myself.
1. Chapter 1

Two weeks before the appearance of the Kyuubi Mikoto Uchiha, wife of the captain of the Uchiha police Fugaku Uchicha, was going to give birth. However, this was no normal birth. According to the chakra readings, it was going to be twins. Twins were an incredibly rare thing in the Uchiha clan. So rare, in fact, that there had not been an Uchiha twin since the Sage of Six Path's sons.

Mikoto Uchiha sat on a rather comfortable mat in the Uchiha council room. In attendance was her husband and the elders of the clan. Mikoto eyed them all up, they had certainitly grown decrepit. Age had not been kind to them indeed. The oldest and most wrinkled of the elders spoke first.

"Mikoto.." he said, pausing to completly gather his thoughts "..we hear you are having twins"

'So that's what this is about,' thought Mikoto to herself.

"Now," the elder continued. "You do know what this means don't you?"

Mikoto stared at the old man, hate hidden in her charcoal eyes. "Yes, I do. The one given up second is to be given up." A tear formed in her eye at the thought. "But, what I don't know is why. can you tell me that?"

A women to the left of the first man spoke up "I'm sorry Mikoto, you know we cannot."

Mikoto stared at the ground in front of her. "...I understand." She held back a tear. "Will he..or she, be allowed to live? Will I be able to name them?"

The first elder spoke up again. "The law only states that they may not be raised as an Uchiha. If you want them to live, you must find them housing outside the complex. They must also never be allowed to know of your exsistence, outside of a mother of a fellow Shinobi."

Mikoto continued looking at the floor, her eyes unable to control the tempest behind them. "I..I understand.." She managed to choke out. "Is..Is there anything else?" her speech had become labored as she thought about giving up her child.

"..No, you may go."

Mikoto raised herself from the mat. As she walked she felt a pain in her stomach, causing her to double over. The pain continued and forced her to her knees. Her husband, Fugaku Uchiha, rushed to his wifes side activating his Sharingan to view her chakra network.

'Oh no..' he thought 'Not this soon..'. "QUICKLY!" Fugaku yelled at the top of his voice. "SHE'S GOING INTO LABOR! BRING THE MEDICAL NIN!"

Mikoto layed in her cot, holding her first born son. She had decided to name him Sasuke. 'I have never been this happy in my entire life.' she thought to herself. 'If only it didn't have to be so bittersweet' as she thought this tears formed in her eyes over the son she had to get rid of. 'Why me? Why did you force me to make this decision..'

_"Miss." The Uchiha medical nin said to the grieving mother. "The council said it was up to you about the second boy so.." The nin trailed off. He had never had good bedside manor, and this was a espcially intense moment._

_ Tears filled Mikoto's eyes. "P-p-please bring me Kushina Uzumaki. I need her help right now" Mikoto choked out, holding her two boys as tight as she could. _

_ "Hai!" The medical nin yelled, and, in a puff of smoke was gone._

_ Kushina Uzumaki rushed into her best friends room her long red hair flowing behind her, moving as fast as a fellow pregnant woman could. She saw her friend in tears, her face red and swollen from it. "Mikoto..your child...are they okay..? _

_ "Yes..the boys are fine.." tears were still in her eyes, blurring her vision. _

_ Kushina moved to wipe her friends eyes with the palm of her thumb "Boys? But..oh..no.." Kushina had studied all of the clans of Konoha when she first moved here. She knew exactly what Uchiha twins meant._

_ "Please..." Mikoto pleaded with the red headed Shinobi "Take him to your husband the four- I mean Minato. Please..it's my boys only hope" she began to weep even harder at this statement._

_ Kushina looked at her grieving friend, holding back tears of her own. "Of course, Minato would never turn away a friend. What's the boys name."_

_ Mikoto smiled for the first time all night. "Malkeru. Malkeru Uchiha."_

The fourth searched and searched for a family for young Malkeru. But, no one was willing to take a 'clanless' boy and Minato couldn't exactly tell them of the boys origin. Finally Minato remember one of his classmates always had a "mother bear" disposition.

"Yes fourth?" Tsume Inuzuka said entering his office. "You summoned me?"

"Yes." Minato said standing to greet the woman. "I have a proposition for you. Please, sit"

'Well, this should be interesting.' She thought taking a seat in one of the couches the Hokage had in his office. "Well, out with it Minato. You've always been one to beat around the bush. Ever since the academy days."

Minato smiled "Yes, I suppose I have." He walked and sat across from the Inuzuka woman. "You just had a son, did you not?"

Tsume stared at the blonde Hokage. "Yes, is something wrong with Kiba?"

"Oh no no." Minato said waving his hand in front of him. "I just thought how nice it would be if Kiba had a brother. Growing up with just an older sister and mom would be no fun for anyone."

Tsume laughed. "I'm flattered Minato, you being the Hokage and all. But isn't your and Kushina's boy due any day?"

Minato just smiled again. He had forgotten how 'raunchy' the Inuzuka women could be. "Ha, no. Not exactly what I had in mind Tsume. I have a boy of questionable clanhood who is in need of a home. He's actually within three weeks of your boys age. I think your home would be a perfect fit for him. Your expertise with raising dogs has to translate into raising children well. After all, Hana turned out very well."

Tsume grinned at the Hokage. "There's something else behind this. Why do you care about some random orphan?"

Minato frowned. "Well, I can't tell you that. But, if you were to adopt this boy, all of his belongings would transfer to you. And if in the chaos his file happened to slip in...well.. I couldn't help that, could I?"

Tsume growled "Fine. I'll take this boy. But, I don't want his file. Just tell me the boy's name...and his real clan. I'll take him."

"Excellent." Minato beamed. "His name is Malkeru, I'm sure you'll love him just like one of your own children." Minato began to walk back to his desk when Tsume stopped him.

"Minato. You're forgetting to tell me something."

"Ah yes.." Minato began. "If I tell you this, you have to stay for the whole story. Do you have time?"

"Hana is watching Kiba so yes, tell me"

"Well..the boys name is Malkeru..Malkeru Uchiha."

Malkeru had a pretty average childhood. At least, as normal as a childhood for someone hoping to be a shinobi can be. Even though his mother, sister, and brother never spoke of it, Malkeru knew he was adopted. He was bright for his age and began to connect the dots. He even went as far as to confront his mother about it.

"Mom..am I adopted?" A small Malkeru asked Tsume Inuzuka.

"Hmm, why would you think a thing like that?"

"Well," Malkeru began "Firstly, our hair is nothing alike. Kiba's is brown and much thicker than mine. Secondly, Kiba and my birthdays are three weeks apart. There's no possible way I could be born three weeks after him, not even if we were twins. And lastly, your fang birthmarks" Malkeru said pointing at the red triangle marks that hung beneath his mother's eyes. "I'm the only one in the entire clan without them. Oh, I forgot, none of the dogs take to me like they take to everyone else. They treat me like I'm an outsider."

Tsume looked down at her incredibly bright adopted son and smiled "Fine." she finally said "You're adopted. But that doesn't make you not mine. I've raised you since you were a week old. I've kissed your bruises and made your nightmares go away. I love you, Kiba loves you, and Hana loves you. You are as much of an Inuzuka as anyone in the clan. And as for the dogs, it will take them longer to like you, that's true. But, just like us, you'll grow on them."

The explaination seemed to work on the young boy as he simply smiled and said "Okay" before going off to play with his brother Kiba. He never brought the topic up again, as far as he was concerned, he was an Inuzuka. And evuantually, even the dogs agreed with him.

The days passed into weeks, weeks into months, and soon into years. Malkeru was growing up strong and healthy and his real mother, Mikoto Uchiha, watched him from a distance as her little boy grew into a fine Shinobi, until, the Uchiha massacare that is.

On that bloody night Malkeru recieved his first visit from the Third Hokage. The old man looked at the young Inuzuka and smiled.

"Hey there young man, how are you tonight?" The old Hokage asked his pipe between his mouth.

"Uhm...alright." was all Malkeru could get out "Sir, I don't mean to be rude but, why are you here? Did I do something wrong? I know I wasn't suppose to help Kiba with his homework but I didn't think it would hurt anyone."

The third laughed. "Hahaha, no boy. You did nothing wrong. There was just an incident and I was making sure the dogs were fine. Figured I'd check on you all as well" the hokage removed his pipe from his mouth 'So, the boy has absolutely no idea he's an Uchiha..guess Minato's plan is working just fine' The third thought, smiling at the boy again.

The third left and Tsume yelled at her boys "Alright you two, back to bed. You start the Academy tomorrow and you need your rest!" Tsume grabbed her adopted son "Malkeru." she said sweetly.

"Ya mom?" Malkeru asked.

"Be nice to Sasuke..he just lost some people close to him. Okay?

"Okay mom!" Malkeru said and rushed off to bed.


	2. Chapter 2

"Oi..OI!...MALKERU! BAKA WAKE UP!" Kiba yelled at his brother to no avail. Kiba sighed "Oh well, guess I have no choice." Kiba raised his foot and kicked Malkeru in his back

"WHAT THE HELL!?" Malkeru screamed as he fell from his bed. "Ow. What the hell Kiba!"

"Baka. We're going to be late for school and you wouldn't get up. Now, get dressed and let's go, we're going to have to skip breakfast."

Malkeru sighed and pulled himself up. He stood and looked himself over, no scratches or bruises from his baka brother knocking him off the bed. At 13 Malkeru stood at slightly over 177cm, he was very tall for his age and towered over his class mates. Malkeru dressed in his usual garb, a black hoodie with the anbu symbol on the front and plain light brown shorts. His black hair hung down and framed his face and matched his charcoal eyes. He considered styling it, but, thought it looked better when he left it messy. Malkeru walked downstairs and outside to see his bother and his brother's puppy, Akamaru, waiting for him.

"Jeez Mal, you take longer than a girl to get ready. Maybe we should just start calling you Hana, eh?" Hana was Malkeru and Kiba's older sister.

"Shut it Kiba, you said we're late so, let's go." They began walking to their class. Honestly, Malkeru hated the academy. He had learned most of the things they were teaching him when he was a young boy from his mother. Frankly, it was time he could be spending training his Taijutsu or trying to find a dog to bond with. Malkeru was the only boy in the complex who was yet to find a dog of his own.

"Oi! Freak! Watcha doin walkin with the head family freak boy?" Several Inuzuka boys began yelling at Malkeru. Malkeru's mother Tsume was the head of the Inuzuka clan. It made Kiba, and himself technically, the "head family". Although, the Inuzuka did not put as much stress on this as say, the Hyuga, did.

"What did you say to my brother?!" Kiba yelled. He began walking over to the boys, ready to beat them. Malkeru, however grabbed his impatient "big" brother.

"Kiba. Stop. You know how mom gets when you beat up on weaklings like that. Honestly, they wouldn't even be a warm up for us, and we're late as it is."

"What did you say about me, freak?" One of the boys taunting him had stepped forward.

"I didn't stutter, or, are you deaf as well as ugly?" Malkeru retorted not breaking his stride.

"You'll pay for that!" The boy charged at Malkeru fist raised. Without looking back Malkeru ducked underneath the punch and brought his elbow into the boys gut. He followed up with an uppercut to the boys jaw, sending him hurtling to the ground.

"Never forget something, slime. I may be adopted, but, I was raised by Tsume Inuzuka, the fiercest Kunoichi in the Inuzuka clan. Maybe the fiercest in the village. I have been training in Taijutsu and ninja arts since I was a pup myself. If you honestly think you are able to beat either Kiba or myself." Malkeru looked the boy in the eyes, striking fear into him. "Next time, you'll be dead wrong." Malkeru kept walking leaving Kiba behind, awestruck.

"Oh comeon now, Mal. I totally wanted to fight that guy and you took all the fun for yourself!" Kiba proclaimed, slightly pouting. Akamaru barked in agreement.

"Kiba, I know you love to fight, but, that boy is still a clansman of ours. Someday, he may be important to us. I hurt him more with my words than anything else. You, on the other hand, would have hospitalized the boy. You're much too protective of me, 'big brother'" Malkeru said the last part with a large dose of sarcasm that Kiba caught.

"Ya well, next guy who bad mouths you, I get!"

"Haha, alright Kiba. You can have the next one." by this time the boys had arrived at Academy and Malkeru couldn't be happier the day was here. "FINALLY!" he shouted at the doors of the academy. "The days of wasting my youth coming to this dreadful place are almost over. For today Kiba, we become Genin!"

"You don't know that yet, baka. You could very well fail this test and be sent back for another year." Kiba grinned at his brother and Malkeru swears he heard Akamaru snicker.

"And if I do, I know you'll be right behind me coming back here. After all, I am the top of the house in Ninjutsu right now. Excluding mother, of course."

"Oh c'mon, you're not that much better than me." Kiba argued as they walked into the Academy. Their class was on the second floor and it took the bickering brothers awhile to reach it. When the finally did Malkeru was pushed out of the way by a small, pink haired Kunoichi named Sakura Hanuro.

"Move it dog breath!" she yelled at the stunned Malkeru. "I wanna get a seat next to Sasuke!" she moved with lightning speed towards the emotionless Uchiha.

Sasuke Uchiha was the one student Malkeru considered an opponent. Well, besides his brother. "I don't get it. I just don't get it. Sasuke is the most emo person here and all the girls go crazy for him." Malkeru said as he and Kiba took a seat in the back of the class next to their friend Choji.

"You know what's weird?" Choji commented, taking a break from eating his bag of chips. Choji was an Akimichi, a clan that specalized in jutsu that augmented the shape of your body for devastating destructive power. As such, most Akimichi were very, to put it gently, large boned. And saying 'fat' or 'tubby' was an absolute taboo around them.

"No, Choji. What's weird?" Malkeru asked, staring at his large friend.

"Well, I've noticed. You and Sasuke look a hell of a lot alike. If you did your hair like his, I bet you could pass for his twin."

"Don't...don't say that Choji. I don't ever want to be anything like any Uchiha. Before they were wiped out they treated my clan like garbage just because we don't possess any Kekkei Genkai. Not to mention, they're all incredibly emo."

"Well, in Sasuke's defense..he did watch his parents get killed by his older brother." Kiba added.

Five years ago Itachi Uchiha went crazy. He murdered every single member of his clan, except one. For some reason the rogue Uchiha could not kill off his younger brother. And no one, except perhaps Sasuke himself, knew why.

"Ya..I do kinda feel bad for him.." Malkeru said, holding his head down. "Damnit.." he said, standing up. Malkeru headed over to the young Uchiha. "Oi, Sasuke. After the test some of us are heading to get lunch, you wanna join us?"

Sasuke glared at him, almost as if he wanted to kill him for even talking to him. "Why would I want to grab lunch with the likes of you?"

Malkeru glared back, he was not afraid of Sasuke. Or, anyone for that matter. "I don't know. Maybe so you'd stop being an emo little bitch for five minut-" Malkeru was interrupted by Saukra punching him in the face.

"Don't you talk to Sasuke like that!" She screamed at him "He is going to be the greatest ninja ever!"

Malkeru rubbed his nose, he was almost sure the girl had fractured it. "I wouldn't say ever. After all, one day I'm going to be leading the ANBU, just like my father before he died." The only thing Tsume would tell Malkeru about his original parents was that his father was a very powerful Shinobi who was captain of an agency that controlled crime in Konoha. Because Malkeru knew he couldn't be an Uchiha, he always assumed his dad was in the ANBU black ops.

"Alright kids, please take your seats. The test will begin soon. Please talk quietly among your neighbors until it starts." Malkeru's teacher, Iruka sensei had walked into the classroom to bring order. Malkeru took his seat and noticed Naruto was sitting in it.

"Um, Naurto?" Naruto looked at Malkeru and he noticed a black eye. Probably from another angry villager. Malkeru had never understood why someone would hurt someone as nice as Naruto, they never even gave him a chance.

"Ya Mal, what's up?" Naruto responded a smile on his face. As long as he had known him, Naruto never frowned when he thought someone was watching him.

"Heh, nothing, it's fine. I'll just sit there." Malkeru said, indicating to a seat two down. "Naruto, if you don't mind me asking..who gave you that black eye?"

"Heh? This? Oh, it's no big deal. I just ran into a pole on my way here, I'm a big goof, ya know?" Malkeru always felt like Naruto was the abused wife of this village. Always getting hurt but always making excuses for Konoha's behavior.

"Ha, alright. Good luck Naruto. I really hope you pass with us." Naruto just smiled and gave him a thumbs up.

"Alright!" Iruka began "I hope everyone studied. For you graduation exam all you have to do...is make two clones of yourself! Easy, right?"

Malkeru looked over at Naruto and knew what he was thinking. Naruto was good at a lot of things. But anything that required any amount of chakra control was not one of them. And the Bunshin no Jutsu (Clone technique) was one of those things.

"First up. Malkeru Inuzuka" Malkeru walked down to where Iruka sensei was standing. Turning to face the class he made the ram handsign.

"Bunshin no Jutsu!" Malkeru said, modling his chakra. A puff of smoke appeared when he activated the Jutsu. When it cleared were standing two perfect clones of Malkeru. Everyone else's exam went pretty flawlessly. Except Naruto's. Now, Malkeru knew Naruto was bad at this, but he didn't know how bad. Naruto not only didn't make two clones, but, the clone he DID manage to make, looked like a disfigured doll more than anything else.

The entire class rushed out of the room to their parents after the exam. Everyone was so proud to show off their new Hitai-ate (Headbands with the leaf symbol prove they were leaf Shinobi). Most ninja, Malkeru's brother included, tied these around their heads. However, Malkeru was not your typical ninja. Chosing to be unique he tied his around his left arm, right above his elbow.

"Wow." Tsume Inuzuka said, smiling at her two boys. "My final two pups are finally Shinobi! I think this is a time to celebrate!"

Malkeru smiled up at his mom. "Of course, but, you know. Even though Kiba is a Shinobi, I'm pretty sure he's as mature as a pup" this earned him a swat in the back of the head from Kiba.

"I'll show you mature, Baka." Kiba said, a devilish smile on his face.

Malkeru turned his head back to face Kiba and saw Naruto, alone, sitting on a swing set. "Hey mom, I gotta take care of one thing before we go. I'll meet you at the Ramen shop, okay?

"Well, okay hun. But, don't be too late. You know Kiba turns into a girl when he gets hungry"

"MOM!" Kiba objected, which only made his mom laugh.

Malkeru headed over to where his blonde friend was. "Hey, Naruto!" Naruto looked up from the swing. "Hey man, I know you didn't graduate, but, Kiba and I are going for Ramen with our mom to celebrate. Want some free Ramen and to celebrate your friends graduating?"

Naurto looked slightly happier at the boys words "Ya I w-" Naruto was interrupted by a young boy behind Malkeru

"Hey, Inuzuka, I thought you guys tamed dogs, not foxes!" Malkeru looked back at the boy not quite understanding what he meant. He looked back at Naruto and he was back to his depressed mood.

"Actually," Naruto started "I just remembered, I have to meet someone, please excuse me" and Naruto got up and left. Malkeru knew there was no way to change Naruto's mind so he instead confronted the boy who made the comment.

"I have absolutely no idea what you meant by that" he said as he grabbed the boy by the collar "But the next time you make a comment about one of my friends in front of me, I assure you, the largest Inuzuka dogs I can find will show up in your front yard, and, oddly enough, no one will be around to control them." Malkeru dropped the boy at this point. He was sure he had made the young boy piss himself.

Malkeru met up with his mother and brother twenty minutes or so later at a close by ramen shop.

"There he is! The other boy who makes me so proud!" Malkeru looked at the source of this noise.

"Hana!" he yelled and ran to give his big sister a hug. Hana was a shinobi medical vet, and as such, she traveled across the Land of Fire treating sick Inuzuka dogs all over the country. Her travel made her unable to be home a lot, so Kiba and Malkeru loved every second she was around. She was more like a second mother to them then a sister.

Hana smiled at both of her brother's "I am so proud of both of you! You're both becoming such strong little Shinobi." Malkeru smiled back, but it was hard to hide his mood from his sister. "What's wrong Mal? You look frustrated."

"It's nothing," he said, looking at the menu "Just a comment some boys made to Naruto that I didn't understand."

"Oh?" Tsume said, looking away from her menu towards her son. "What did they say to that poor boy this time?"

"Well, it was more directed at me, but for Naruto to hear." Malkeru explained, "They said 'Hey, Inuzuka, I thought you guys tamed dogs, not foxes'. I really don't understand it. Why do people call Naruto 'fox' or 'demon'?

"Well, maybe because he's an orphan?" Tsume guessed. "The villagers are not very accepting of unusual things. And a orphan wanting to become a shinobi is very unusual indeed."

"Well, then, why don't they all hate Sasuke as well? He's an orphan, and was made one in a very unusual circumstance. Not to mention he's a royal emo ass."

Kiba snickered at his brother's comment while his mother simply growled "Malkeru! Did we not talk about how to talk in front of your elders and ladies?"

"Ya mom, we did, but, you and I both know I'm telling the truth." Malkeru argued.

'When did the little baka that use to chase dogs around get so observant?' Hana wondered to herself.

"Regardless." Tsume said. "Please clean up your language around your sister and I. And all ladies for that matter. You want to find a wife someday don't you?"

"Yes ma'am." Malkeru said, hanging his head in shame. "But mom, isn't there anything we can do to help Naruto?"

"Trust me Mal, I wish there was just as much as you do. But, we simply can't change the whole villages mind. Now, do you know what you want to eat?"

The rest of lunch went casually with nice talk and bickering between family. Pretty typical for an Inuzuka meal. Malkeru and Kiba went home after thier meal and sparred a bit in the back yard. Malkeru allowed himself to be subjected to his brother's combination attacks while Kiba allowed Mal to practice his Taijutsu on him. With Hana home, she took over the role of cooking dinner for the family. While Malkeru would never say it to his mother, or anyone who would tell his mother, Tsume could not cook to save her life. Kiba and Malkeru were both VERY glad when their sister came home and cooked for the family again.

After dinner, Malkeru couldn't stop his racing thoughts and went and laid on his bed for a while. 'Who am I?' he thought to himself. 'What clan do I really belong to. I love my family and will never give up my Inuzuka title, but, who am I really?'. Malkeru let his thoughts wonder around in his head for the next couple hours until he decided it was best to take a walk and clear his mind. He began to walk downstairs when he poked his head in his brother's room. Kiba was hard at work studying how to properly train Akamaru. It was a rule in the Inuzuka clan. If you wanted to raise a dog, you had to learn yourself. Great breeders are natural, you can't teach instinct.

"Kiba," Malkeru said, taking a seat on his brother's bed. "Can we talk?" Akamaru sensed Malkeru and crawled into his lap, falling back asleep.

"Uh, ya, what's up Mal?" Kiba said, still staring deep into his books.

"Do you consider me your blood brother? I know I'm adopted and I wouldn't blame you if you don't..." Malkeru kinda trailed off, letting Kiba finish his thought process.

"Woah," Kiba finally said, lifting his face from his books to look at his brother. "Where did all this come from. Of course you're my brother, why would you even think you're not?"

"..I don't know." Malkeru admitted. "Sometimes the things the other Inuzuka's say..it gets to me, ya'know? I mean, I'm 13 and I can't even get a dog to choose me yet."

"Well, Mal, we both know there are pure bred Inuzukas that never get a dog. If you don't wanna believe you're an Inuzuka just look at Akamaru in your lap. Akamaru wouldn't, and still won't, even let mom hold him. And she's the best breeder in the entire family, I mean, she is the head after all. And yet, he climbed into your lap without even being called. So, to answer your question. Yes, you are my brother. Even if you don't like it."

Malkeru surprised his brother by giving him a great big hug. "Thank you Kiba. I needed to hear that."

Kiba smiled. "You haven't hugged me since we were six. You feelin' sick baka?"

Malkeru pulled away, smiling. "Nope, just finally figured out where I belong. If mom ask, I went for a walk." And with that, he headed out the door.

Malkeru felt much better as he walked the streets of Konoha (Hidden leaf village). This time of night the village really came to life. Older Shinobi were getting off their shifts and metting up with friends, deciding how to spend their night off. Lights were being turned on, making the sky line glow with their florescent light. Malkeru loved Konoha with all his heart, he couldn't think of a better place to live.

He had been walking for a couple hours before he noticed how late it was getting. He had gotten caught up enjoying the villages night life to notice everyone leaving the main street and either heading into bars to spend the rest of the night, or going home to settle in for the night. 'Shit.' he thought to himself 'Mom may not look like the type, but she worries worse than anyone I know when I'm even one minute late for curfew'. Malkeru didn't have a watch, but by the position of the moon, he knew he was probably very late to be getting home. So, he started the very scary trek back home. It wasn't the trek that he was really worried about. Even as a child he was never afraid of the dark. And any Shinobi strong enough to attack him and be successful also had a code of honor against attacking people for no reason. The real thing that scared him, was his mother who was waiting for him. Most likely at the door.

Clak. Clak. Clak. Clak. Malkeru knew that sound and looked up to see a Shinobi jumping across the rooftops. Malkeru also loved jumping across rooftops, but his mother had a strict rule against using chakra outside of missions and training. Malkeru looked closer at the ninja and recognized it as none other than Naruto Uzumaki.

"Naruto? What the hell is he doing and..is that a scroll on his back? Why does he have a scroll that large?" Malkeru was intrigued to say the least and decided to follow the knuckle head. He ended up in a forest just outside the village. Malkeru decided to watch from a tree branch as Naruto opened the scroll and began to read from it.

'Shit' he thought as he squinted his eyes 'I wish I knew what was on that scroll' Malkeru sat there for a while and watched Naruto as naruto made a handsign he hadn't seen before. It consisted of crossing the first and second finger of his left hand over the first and second finger of his right. The boy seemed to strain himself for a while, but, nothing seemed to happen. This went on for about fourty-five minutes and Malkeru was about to leave when it happened.

"KAGE BUNSHIN NO JUTSU!" Naruto yelled. Besides him, a puff of smoke appeared. Out of that smoke, a perfect replica of Naruto came out.

'Kage...Bunshin?' (Shadow...clone?) Malkeru thought to himself. 'What the hell is a Kage Bunshin?'

Malkeru got his answer when the two Narutos high fived each other and began dancing around.

'They..they touched? So..that's not a simple illusion. That's a real copy of him!' Malkeru smiled. The boy who couldn't even make a replica had made an entire copy of himself. Malkeru was about to leave when he noticed Iruka sensei appear before Naruto.

"Naruto!" Iruka yelled "What are you doing out here?"

"Iruka Sensei! You've got to see, I learned an incredible new jutsu, if I do it, you gotta let me pass!"

Iruka looked down at the blonde Shinobi "Naruto...where did you get that scroll?"

"Hmm?" Naruto said, confused. "Oh! You mean this? Mizuki Sensei told me about it, and about this place too. He said if I showed you this skill, you'd have to let me graduate!"

"Naru-" out of nowhere Iruka pushed Naruto out of the way as Shuriken flew and pierced the sensei.

"Nice job finding the baka." A voice said from a tree, Malkeru looked up and saw Mizuki sensei. Malkeru modified his position to avoid being seen by him. Malkeru was strong, but, he didn't think he could take a Chunin.

"I see..so that's what's going on" Iruka said between gasp.

"Naruto!" Mizuki yelled. "Give me the scroll!"

"Huh? What?! What's going on here! Why did you hurt Iruka sensei!?" Naruto yelled.

"Naruto whatever happens...don't give him that scroll!" Iruka yelled at the young boy. "That's a dangerous scroll with forbidden jutsu on it. Mizuki used you to get his hands on it."

"Naruto.." Mizuki began. "There's no point in you having it...I'll tell you the truth."

"NO MIZUKI!" Iruka yelled, fear in his eyes. "IT'S FORBIDDEN FROM EVER SPEAKING!"

Mizuki smiled. "Thirteen years ago, you remember the demon fox? The Kyuubi thaat ravaged the village? The one sealed away? Well, since that day a special rule was created in this village."

"A rule..?" Naruto asked.

"Yes, but, the rule was never to be told to you."

"Never to be told to me? Why would I not be allowed to know?" Mizuki just laughed at the confused little boy "WHAT? WHY CAN'T I KNOW?"

"Because!" Mizuki yelled. "The rule is that we are never to tell you that YOU Naruto are the Nine Tailed Fox."

Naruto and Malkeru's eyes both widened in shock. 'So..that's the reason for those nicknames.' thought Malkeru.

"What..what do you mean?" Naruto said.

"STOP IT MIZUKI!" Iruka yelled.

Mizuki just laughed again "It means Naruto, that you are the Nine tailed demon fox. The same one that killed Iruka's parents and destroyed the village. YOU WERE SEALED BY THE HOKAGE YOU ADMIRE SO MUCH AND EVERYONE HAS LIED TO YOU! Didn't you find it odd how everyone hates you? Iruka is the same! He also hates you! Nobody will ever love you, Naruto! That scroll was used to seal you up!" Mizuki drew a fuma shuriken from his back. "NOW DIE DEMON!" He drew back, and with all his strength, aimed the fuma shuriken right at the boy.

Naruto closed his eyes, knowing he couldn't dodge it. He felt warm liquid splash on his body and knew he'd been hit, knew this was the end. He opened his eyes and saw Iruka leaning over him, shielding the boy from the attack. "Wh...why?" Naruto asked the Chunin.

Iruka smiled at him. "After my parents died, there was no one to take care of me. Nobody to compliment or acknowledge me. I always acted like an idiot to get people's attention, since I wasn't good at learning or homework. It was better than nothing, so I kept acting like an idiot. It was so painful." Iruka's eyes were full of tears as he stared at the boy "You must have been in so much pain Naruto. I'm sorry Naruto, if I had done a better job you wouldn't have to feel like this."

Naruto was awe struck and couldn't handle it. He ran. Malkeru took off after him staying in the treetops to avoid detection. This wasn't his fight, but, he also wouldn't let a friend die.

Naruto was much faster than Malkeru thought and he lost him. "Damnit!" he said to himself. "I'm an Inuzuka! Tracking him should be nothing for me!" He evuantually found Naruto being chased by Iruka.

"Naruto! Give me the scroll! I can protect you!" Iruka yelled. Naruto moved closer to his sensei and seemed to be giving up the scroll.

'Finally,' Malkeru thought. 'This is all over'

Just then Naruto punched Iruka into the ground. Naruto himself landed by a tree and collapsed.

'What the hell?!' Malkeru exclaimed inside is head.

Iruka got up. "Hehe, how did you know?" He asked, transforming back into Mizuki sensei.

Naruto laughed as well. "Because, I'm the real Iruka." Naruto then also transformed, back into Iruka sensei.

'Ah, transformation jutsu.' Malkeru realized.

"You would risk your life for the same demon that killed your parents?" Mizuki asked him. "Why?"

"Because, Naruto isn't that demon. And anyone who thinks he is hasn't gotten to know the boy."  
Mizuki laughed. "Fine! If you want to sacrifice yourself for that slime.." Mizuki drew a Kunai. "I'LL LET YOU HAVE THAT WISH!"

'Shit, gotta help' Malkeru thought as he dropped from the tree, drawing his own Kunai. He deflected the kunai right before it hit his sensei.

"Malkeru?!" Both senseis said at once.

"Ya ya, it's me. I'm sorry Mizuki but I'm a leaf Shinobi now. That makes Iruka part of my pack. And an Inuzuka never leaves behind a member of the pack." Malkeru pointed his kunai and Mizuki and Mizuki noticed a change in the boys eyes. His usual charcoal eyes had turned red. Outside of his central pupil two tomoe appeared horizontally from each other.

'What the hell? How does he have that?!' Mizuki thought. "No matter, I'll just kill you both!" Mizuki jumped back and began to weave handsigns.

'Oh no,' Michael thought 'I don't know any juts- what the hell am I doing?!' Malkeru noticed his body had taken over and his was imitating the same handsigns as Mizuki. 'How the hell am I doing this? Snake, Ram, Monkey, Boar, Horse, Tiger. What the hell do these signs even do?!'

Mizuki didn't even notice the boy copying his handsigns until it was too late. "Katon! Goukakyuu no Jutsu!" (Fire style! Fireball technique!) both shinobi screamed in unison. Inhaling, Malkeru gathered the chakra in this throat and concentrated it. On his exhale a massive fireball appeared, it's flames originating from the stream of air Malkeru had produced.

Malkeru stopped his breath and the fireball dissappeared. "How did I do that.." he said to himself. When the smoke cleared Mizuki was gone. "Iruka sensei..did..did I do it?" he turned back to face his teacher.

"Malkeru..." Iruka said stunned. "Your eyes!"

"My eyes? What do yo-" Malkeru instantly felt exhausted. He had spent all of his chakra on that fireball. The last thing he saw before he passed out was Mizuki walking towards them, kunai drawn.


	3. Chapter 3

**(A/N: Thanks for all the reviews and follows so far, really means a lot to know you like the story. Just a quick note, I have added in some "fluff" chapters just to make the story my own and develop relationships in a way that's familiar to me. This chapter is pretty much one of those fluff chapters, sorry if you're not into that kind of thing. I also didn't want the medical knowledge I have going to waste. Anyway, enjoy!)**

When Malkeru came to, he was laying on a fairly comfortable sofa. But, he had no idea where. He quickly shot up and felt a pain in his ribs. "Ahhhh!" he yelped before laying down again.

"Now now," a firmiliar voice told him. "You put a lot of strain on your body tonight, it's best you lay there for a minute or two and restore some chakra." Malkeru recognized the voice as the third Hokage.

"Third?!" Malkeru said, slowly raising himself up this time. "I'm sorry for what I did! I know I shouldn't attack a fellow shinobi but-"

"Stop." The third interrupted him. "You're not in trouble Malkeru. Not any at all. I saw everything through my crystal ball." He said as he pointed to his desk. Malkeru noticed the translucent orb sitting there and he relaxed a bit. "No, why I brought you here was to discuss the ability you unlocked tonight."

"Ability..?" Malkeru asked, confused as to what he meant. "You mean how I copied the Goukakyuu no Justsu?"

"Yes, precisely." The third said "Did you feel any different before it happened?"

Malkeru thought back to the incident. "Well, no. Not really. But, Mizuki seemed to be moving much slower, and my body moved of it's own accord to mimic the jutsu. I don't even know how I did it, I'd never seen that jutsu done before."

The third smiled at the confused boy. "There is no point in not telling you. It could be very useful for the village someday. What you used is a kekkei genkai known as the 'Sharingan'. (Translates into Mirror wheel eye.) It's an ability that belongs to the Uchiha."  
Malkeru stared at him. "So..I'm really an Uchiha like Sasuke?!"

The third stared at him. "Well, I wouldn't say that. After all, Itachi killed all the Uchiha and left you alone. But, you certaintly have their ability. Sometimes this happens Malkeru, where, the right types of bloods mix and a Jutsu that belongs to another clan sometimes sprouts up. Count yourself very lucky. The Sharingan is a very powerful ability for a Genin to have."

Malkeru looked at his hands 'So, I have an ability all of my own finally..' "Third, can I ask a favor?"

"Hmm, what's that?"

"Uhm, can you walk me home and explain all this to my mom?" Malkeru said laughing. "She'd never believe me and I'm terrified of her!"

The third laughed. "Of course young man. You're right to be scared of your mom. She's a very frightening Kunoichi."

And so the third walked Malkeru home and explained everything that happened to Tsume. She hugged her son and told him "If you're ever that late again, Mizuki will be the last of your worries" Malkeru smiled but inside he was terrified. Even with Sharingan, his mom would beat him to a bloody pulp. Malkeru walked up to his room after the Hokage left to change his clothes. He was meeting his sensei today after all, and he still had blood on him from when Iruka must have carried him to the Hokage's office. When he got in his room he saw Kiba and Akamaru laying on his bed.

'He must have stayed up waiting for me to get home and passed out.' Malkeru smiled, he was glad to have family like that. "Oi, Kiba, wake up Baka. It's time to meet our senseis." He said shaking his brother.

Kiba woke up and punched his brother in the face "HOW DARE YOU STAY OUT ALL NIGHT AND MAKE US WORRY LIKE THAT YOU DOBE!"

Malkeru rubbed his face, he knew he deserved that. "There's a good story behind it Kiba, if you'll listen." So while he changed, he told Kiba everything, including his using the Sharingan.

"Wow! The Sharingan?! Really?" Kiba said amazed "Can..can I see it?"

"Hmm, sure, I think. I haven't really tried to use it again." Malkeru closed his eyes, focusing all his chakra. When he opened them he got the same rush he got in his fight against Mizuki. Everything seemed to slow down and he could see Kiba's movements before they happened.

"Woah! That's so cool!" Kiba said hopping off his brothers bed. "Bet that makes up for not having a dog to do combination jutsu with, eh?"

Malkeru smiled. He didn't realize it, but, he liked things that made him slightly different. If he was like every other Inuzuka, what fun would that be? "C'mon, mom said she'd make us breakfast before we had to leave."

"Mom's breakfast? Why are you in such a rush to get downstairs?"

"Simple." Malkeru said. "I forgot that you and I have to meet Iruka early to discuss if we would want to be on the same team or not, and we have to leave much earlier than expected."

Kiba smiled at his brother. "You really just wanna spar me with those Sharingan, don't you?"

Malkeru looked at his brother with a devilish smile. They could read each other like open books. So, Malkeru told his mother the well thought out lie to save her feelings and they headed to a practice field. With the Sharingan Malkeru found it easy to dodge all his brothers attacks. He also found it much easier to find room for counter attacks and beat his brother pretty badly. Kiba had only managed to hit Malkeru once, and that was when his chakra control had faltered and he lost the Sharingan for a second. At the end of the spar Malkeru was exhausted while Kiba was merely tired.

"So, Mal, I think we found the downside to those eyes."

"Ya, they take chakra to use, and I haven't quite found the minimum amount to keep them active. Once I do that, I'm sure I'll be able to use them longer and without this level of exhaustion." Kiba had to help Malkeru walk most of the way to the Academy. But, Kiba didn't mind, his brother was getting more powerful and it was something Kiba one-hundred percent supported. "Kiba." Malkeru said before they arrived at the school.

"Ya?"

"Don't tell anyone about my eyes. I'm already judged for not being a true Inuzuka, I don't want to give them more fuel."

Kiba looked at his brother confused but finally agreed. They headed into class and took their usual seats. The classroom was less crowded than usual. Malkeru guessed that some people dropped out after they were told what it was really like to be a shinobi. He counted twenty-four students. That meant eight teams of the usual three man squads. 'Alright, not a bad amount.' Malkeru thought to himself. 'Plenty of competition to keep me motivated'. That was, until he noticed Naruto walking in wearing a Haiti-ate around his head. Malkeru wasn't really surprised that after what happened last night he became a genin. After all, he had learned the Kage Bunshin no Jutsu, but, everone else in his class was

"How did you become a Genin!" Kiba roared. "You failed the exam yesterday!"

"Ya!" Sakura yelled, agreeing with Kiba. "Who did you steal that headband from?!"

"No one." Malkeru interjected, surprising everyone. "Maybe Naruto passed some other kind of Exam. You all do know there are make up exams, right?" Malkeru said, telling a complete bold faced lie. Naruto looked at him, grateful, and Malkeru just smirked back.

"Well, I guess that makes sense." Kiba said. "But, that does throw off the number of students."

"Ya, I suppose it does." Malkeru agreed. He wasn't worried about it. The Hokage was a smart man and would know exactly how to deal with this.

At this point Iruka sensei walked in and the class settled down. "Alright!" He began. "Who is ready to meet their new sensei?" Everyone in the class besides Malkeru and Sasuke got excited. "Alright first up.."  
Malkeru zoned out at this point, to busy thinking about how to control his Sharingan to care, until he heard his brothers name. "Kiba Inuzuka, Hinata Hyuuga, and Shino Abruame. You are all assigned to Kurenai Yuhi." Malkeru clapped his brother on the back. Both of his teammates were part of clans that would make excellent trackers, which, was just what Kiba wanted to be. A tracking ninja. "Finally, we have the team of Naruto Uzumaki, Sasuke Uchiha, Sakura Hanuro, and Malkeru Inuzuka." Malkeru lifted his hand at this. "Yes, Malkeru?"

"Uhm Sensei, that's four people." Malkeru said, confused.

"Yes, it is. Originally we had just enough people to make eight three man cells. But, last night due to unforeseen occurances." At this point he stared subtely at Naruto and then at Malkeru "We had an extra shinobi pass. As such, we had to make one of the eight teams a four man cell."

"That's all fine and well, but, why did I have to get put with Sasuke!" Naruto yelled.

"Well, Naruto we had to make sure even the four man cell was balanced. And your test grades were so low the only way we could do that was to put both the first and second top students with you."

"You mean me and Sasuke?" Sakura said, a tone of showing off in her voice.

"Erm, no. Sakura. I mean Sasuke and Malkeru. Malkeru was just below Sasuke in the physical portions and very high above you. In the academic he was within one percent of you and much above Sasuke. Because of that, he beat you out for second in the class."

At this Sakura's ego seemed to deflate and Malkeru smiled. He never liked Sakura very much. Malkeru realized something.

"Uhm Sensei, you never told us who our new Sensei was going to be."  
"Oh that's right." Iruka said looking back at this clipboard. "You shall be assigned to Kakashi Hatake." Malkeru perked up at this. He had read about Kakashi in an old Hidden Mist bingo book he found in the Konoha library.

"Sensei, isn't Kakashi also known as 'Sharingan Hatake, the copy ninja'?" Malkeru asked, trying to seem indifferent to the answer.

"Why, yes he is. Why do you ask?" Irkuka asked, already knowing the answer.

"No reason." Malkeru said cooly "Just trying to learn everything I can about the man who will be training us."

"Right.. Well, you are all to wait here for your Jounin sensei to come get you. Have a good day students." With that, Iruka walked off. Most of the jounin arrived within fifteen minutes. A few took a little bit longer to arrive. After an hour and a half, Malkeru, Sasuke, Sakura, and Naruto were the only ones still waiting.

"Damnit." Malkeru said, breaking the silence "Is he trying to break us already?"

"Probably." Sakura said "And I think it's starting to work." Sakura looked forward and said "Naruto what the hell are you doing?" Malkeru finally looked over at the idiot orange ninja and noticed him fiddeling with the door. When he moved Malkeru saw he haad jammed a blackboard eraser in it, hoping to have it fall on the unsuspecting Jounin.

"Naruto, there is no way that will work." Sasuke said, not looking up from his hands.

"Ya Naruto, a Jounin will never fall for that." Sakura agreed, love in her eyes for Sasuke.

"I wouldn't say that." Malkeru said, thinking back to his fight with Mizuki. "Even the most careful ninja lets their guard down around someone they don't consider a threat."

At the point the door opened and a silver haired ninja stepped in and had the eraser fall right ontop of his head, sending chalk dust flying in the air. However, no one laughed at this prank. Believing it was more depressing than funny that their Jounin sensei had falen for such a lame prank.

"Well, my first impression is, I don't like any of you." The silver haired ninja said, looking them all over. Meet me on the roof in five minutes." And with that, he disappeared. The group didn't argue and just marched up the stairs to find a rooftop "hangout" on top of the academy. Everyone took a seat on the bench except Malkeru. Apparently this roof hadn't been designed for such a large meeting, so he leaned against a railing. The silver haired ninja leaned against a railing in front of the group.

"Well now," the Jounin began. "Since we're going to be working together from now on, I thought it good that we get to know each other, no? So, tell me about yourself."

Sakura spoke up, "Why don't you go first sensei? To give us an idea of what you mean"

"Well, alright. My name is Kakashi Hatake. I like and dislike things, and I don't really have any dreams or ambitions anymore."

'So all he basically told us was his name..' Malkeru thought to himself.

"Now," Kakashi said "How about you, leaning against the railing."

"My name is Malkeru Inuzuka. I like training and dislike people who mistreat animals. My dream is to someday become leader of the ANBU and I would say my current ambition is to become the strongest in my class." As he finished he looked at Sasuke and smirked.

"Okay, blondie?" Kakashi said, looking at Naurto.

"Naruto Uzumaki is my name! I like cup ramen,and when Iruka sensei takes me out for ramen. I dislike the three minutes it takes to cook after I put the hot water in. And my dream is to become Hokage so everyone in the village will finally acknowledge me."

"Pinkie, you're up next."

"My name is Sakura Hanuro! I like-" She looked at Sasuke. "And my dream is-" She again looked at Sasuke. She seemed to almost zone out for a second. "Oh, and I dislike Naruto!" Naruto seemed to sink at this comment.

"And you, depressing boy over there, you're last up."

"My name is Sasuke Uchiha. I don't like much of anything and dislike almost everything. I wouldn't say I have any dreams, but, my ambition is the revival of my clan and to...kill a certain man."

"Well that's that." Kakashi said "Now, tomorrow is the test to see if you're going to become geni-"

"WHAT!?" Naruto yelled, "ANOTHER FREAKING TEST? WHAT WAS THE FIRST ONE FOR"

"Well, that was really just to see who would get to take this final test. Meet me at practice field three tomorrow at 8am. Bring your ninja tools and be ready." Kakashi was about to leave when he said "Oh ya, and don't eat breakfast. Otherwise you'll throw up. And, I forgot to remind you. You all have to get physicals today to make sure you're fit for duty. Please make sure to get that done after lunch." and with that he was gone in a puff of smoke.

"DAMNIT!" Naurto screamed again. "I'm so bad at test."

"Don't worry Naruto," Malkeru said, already leaving. "You'll have us this time. It'll be fine."

"Ya..Hey Sakura! Now that we're on the same team, maybe we should eat lunch together!?"

"Dream on Naurto." Sakura said, walking away.

"Ohh. Well, Mal,what about you?"

"I would love to Naruto, but, I promised to help out with the physicals today. The hospital is incredibly understaffed for the amount of physicals they're going to have to do today."

"Huh, why are you helping. You're not a medical nin." Naruto looked confused as he said it.

"No, you're right. I'm not. However, my sister Hana is. She taught me how to take blood pressure, check heart rates, pulse, reflexes, etc etc. While I can't do the more advanced stuff like check on your Chakra network. I can do the basics and take a load off of the medical nin."

"Ya, I guess you're right...wait, isn't you sister a vet?" Naruto exclaimed, but Malkeru was already gone.

Malkeru sat in examination room one. He had just finished up with a rather disgusting Jounin who decided to make every homophobic joke under the sun. Malkeru really hated dealing with those kind of patients. The medical nin he was helping out poked his head in.

"Hey, Mal. I know you requested not to do any females, but, we just got a huge rush and we need you to take some.

Malkeru sighed. He looked much older than he really was, topple that on with the fact that he was actually a very attractive person, it made the female chunin and jounin flirt with him often. Which, made it harder to get a physical done. "Fine, send her in." in the room entered a young girl, around Malkeru's age. She had blue hair and light gray eyes. She had her hair cut short and he recognized her instantly. "Oh, Hinata. Please, take a seat."

"H-Hello Malkeru." Hinata always had this way of stuttering when she talked. Malkeru find it rather cute.

"I told you Hinata, just call me Mal. Everyone does." Malkeru turned away to grab his stethoscope when he felt another presence enter the room. It was Hinata's "guardian" Ko. He had dealt with this before. Hinata was the heir of the Hyuuga main family, as such, she was never allowed to go anywhere outside of missions and training without Ko. Although, Malkeru was sure he tailed her on those too.

"I'm sorry Ko, but unless you're a parent or LEGAL guardian, I can't allow you in here. For Hinata's privacy."

"I have permission from Hiashi Hyuuga to be here." Ko said, giving Malkeru a cold stare.

"That's fine, but, I still cannot allow you in. Hospital rules. If you're here, I can't begin the physical. No medical nin can either. But, if you want to be the one to tell Hiashi Hyuuga that his daughter can't become a shinobi thus bringing dishonor on the family because you wouldn't trust me to do my job. Well, be my guest. But personally, I wouldn't want to do that." Ko still didn't move. Malkeru sighed. "You have the Byakugan, don't you Ko?"

"Of course I do!" Ko exclaimed, as if Malkeru meant the question as in insult.

"Then, please sit outside and watch with that. I know it can see through these thin wall. But, I cannot have you in here as I ask here these questions. They are private and I may not get thruthful answers with you here."

Ko gave him a stare that oozed with killing intent. "Fine." He finally said. "But, if Hiashi ask, I was in here the whole time."

Malkeru smiled at him. "Of course Ko." Ko finally left the room and Malkeru looked at Hinata. "Sorry about that. Now, if you could please remove your jacket."

"M-my jacket?!" Hinata said, her face turning red with blush.

"Ya..I have to record your heart rate and pulse and I can't do that with that thick jacket on."

"Oh..r-right." Hinata said, turning even redder.

Malkeru took a step behind Hinata. "First I am going to listen for anything in your lungs. For this, I have to stick my hand up the back of your shirt and place my stethoscope on your back. If this makes you uncomfortable please tell me and I will grab a female nurse to do this."

"N-n-no." Hinata said. "Please go ahead."

"Alright, I'm sorry if this is cold." He placed the head of the stethoscope on her back and she instantly arched and sighed in surprise. "Ya, sorry. Now, please take a deep breath in and hold it until I say to stop." Hinata did as she was told. As far as Malkeru could tell, her lungs were clean. "Alright, release. Okay, one more time." again, they sounded clean. "Good good. Now I'm going to take your heart rate" He said as he placed his stethoscope on her chest. Looking at the clock he counted the beats.

"That's...very c-cold" Hinata said, blushing some more.

Malkeru smiled "Almost done." when he finished he was astounded. Her heart rate was 146 bpm. "Uhm, Hinata. You're very lucky you got me doing this."

"Why's that Malk- I me-mean Mal?" Hinata asked, still blushing.

"Well, the normal heart rate for a person our age is 60-100bpm. Females are usually on the higher end of this scale as your heart naturally beats faster. However, your BPM was 146. That's the active rate of someone doing light to moderate exercise. Now, because I'm your friend I know you're a very shy person, and you get nervous when you do a lot of things. More so when people are close to you."

"Y-y-yes Mal, you're r-right." Hinata said, and Malkeru knew her heart was racing again.

"Now, we're going to do this again alright. But, this time, I want you to look into my eyes and breath deep. Nothing is going to happen, you're going to pass this test, okay?"

"O..o-okay." Hinata manged to choke out. Malkeru did the test again and noticed although her face was a new type of red, her heart rate dropped to 84 bpm. A perfectly passable number.

Malkeru smiled at her. "There we go Hinata. 84 bpm."

Hinata smiled back and started playing with her fingers like she usually does when she's shy. "Thank you, Mal."

"Hey, you didn't stutter that time." Malkeru said, walking back to place his stethoscope on the counter. The rest of the test went completely normal. All of her reflexes were fine. And althought Malkeru had to ask her the incredibly embarrassing questions about her, uhm, 'adult life' they both managed to make it through the test painlessly. Malkeru opened the door. "Ko, you can come in now. I am giving her the results." Ko got up and bowed to Malkeru.

"I am sorry for how I reacted. You were very professional in there. I just saw a young boy and well..I am sorry."

"No problem, I would probably do the same thing in your shoes." Malkeru said as he led Ko into the office. "Alright Hinata, you check out. Everything looks fine just remember what we talked about. Whenever you get nervous just take deep breaths, okay?"

"Okay, Mal. Thank you again." Hinata said, putting back on her jacket.

"Okay." he said looking at Kon. "Take this slip to the medical nin down the hall and he'll do that last of the test." Malkeru followed them out and said into the hallway "Next in, please." He did a few more test that day, including his brother Kiba which was awkward for everyone involved. Around four pm the medical nin came back in.

"Alright Mal, that should be it. We knocked out 80 percent of the shinobi in the village. You can go grab some dinner now, we will be able to handle the stragglers that come in."

"Alright cool, later." Mal said, walking out of the building. Kiba was waiting outside for him so they could go get some early dinner. Mom was away on a mission and Hana was busy with the physicals of all of the dogs, so, they decided to eat out. While out the ran into Hinata again, this time she was with her father Hiashi Hyugga.

"Hinata!" Kiba called out. "Over here." Kiba ran to meet his teammate. Malkeru, not really given much of a choice followed his baka brother.

"Hello Kiba, and Mal." Hinata said. Malkeru noticed she wasn't stuttering at all. Hiashi looked at Mal. For somereason, this man terrified him. Not on the level his mother did, but, he was still scared.

"So, this is Malkeru Inuzuka." Hiashi began. "Ko told me you were the one who did my daughter's physical today."

"Yes sir." Malkeru responded. "She did very well, sir."

Hiashi just gave him a cold look. "Of course she did, she's a Hyuuga." and with that he pulled his daughter away from Kiba and Mal. Hinata looked back and gave them a look as if to say 'I'm sorry'.

"What's his problem?" Malkeru asked Kiba.

Kiba just shrugged. "He probably doesn't like the fact that you hand your hands all over his daughter today. He's a very protective father." Kiba said, elbowing Malkeru in the ribs in a 'good job on touching that bro' kinda way.

Malkeru just laughed, "You're such a tard Kiba."


	4. Chapter 4 - The bell test!

**(A/N: Thanks for all the views guys, you have no idea the steps it takes for my confidence with a project this large, or how much it helps inspire me to keep writing. Keep hitting that follow and favorite button guys, and please please review, I can't get better without feedback!)**

Malkeru awoke the next day much before he had to. He looked at his clock and it said 6 am. Two hours before his test. He knew sleep was going to elude him now so he decided to just get up and sneak off before his mother could make breakfast. He headed to training field four to be close to where his exam would take place, but also give him some privacy. He began to channel chakra to his eyes again, this time at a very slow rate, while he did this, he began throwing kunai, waiting for them to slow down. He noticed his third kunai moved much slower than the other two and looked at his reflection in the fourth. His eyes had indeed turned the red of the Sharingan. He started to retract the amount of chakra he was giving his eyes, not blinking as he watched his reflection. The second his eyes started to darken back to charcoal he increased the flow ever so slightly until they went back to the red he had seen at first. He had done it. He found the amount of chakra he needed. He felt good about this. It only took him about 45 minutes. He still had about an hour before he had to be at his test. He heard panting come from the next field over. So he went to check it out. He saw Hinata, her Byukugan activated hitting a target dummy. He watched her for a little bit before heading over.

"Hinata. What are you training?" Malkeru said, stepping out from behind the tree he was watching from. Hinata heard him and faltered in her step and fell. Malkeru rushed over to help her up.

"Mal, w-what are you doing here?" Hinata said, her stutter was back.

"I was training with my, uhm, technique and I heard something over here so I came to check it out. Your stance is really cool. I've never seen taijutsu like that." Malkeru said, helping Hinata to her feet.

"Y-y-yes it's m-my families h-hidden technique" Hinata said.

"Hidden technique?" Malkeru asked. "I thought you guys had the Byukugan."

"Well..w-we do, b-but we also h-have this. I- I'd tell you a-a- about it but my dad wouldn't l-like that." Hinata said. Her face was getting redder and her stutter increased the longer she stared at Malkeru.

Malkeru didn't even notice the girls internal struggle and laughed. "Ya, he seems like that type." He put his hands behind his head and continued. "Well, I have to go meet my sensei. If you ever wanna learn about Inuzuka stuff come on over." Hinata got even redder at the suggestion of coming over to his house.

"Y-y-you want me to c-c-come over?" Hinata said, almost fainting. She remembered what Malkeru said and started taking subtle deep breaths.

"Ya sure, why not? You seem nice enough." Said Malkeru as he walked off "Later Hinata" was the last thing Hinata heard as she fainted.

Malkeru arrived at the training field around 7:50. Sakura and Sasuke were already there and Naruto was arriving from the opposite side of Malkeru.

"Well guys, now we wait for our usually late sensei, no?" Malkeru said as they all met at the training post. Everyone sighed and nodded in agreement. To everyones amazement Kakashi was only 20 minutes late this time.

"Right, so is everyone ready to begin?" Kakashi said, a smile visible from his mask. Everyone groaned and said yes. "Alright then." Kakashi pulled out two bells. "This test was originally designed for a three man cell, so, I've modified it slightly. You see these bells? The goal is to get them from me. By any means neccessary. Genjustu, Taijutsu, Ninjutsu, I don't care. The two who grab the bells pass, and get to decide who will be the best assest to their team and that person passes as well. The person who does not get a bell or get chosen, fails and will be sent back to the academy." Everyone perked up at this. "Alright, now, I am a Jounin who is listed in the bingo book of nearly every Shinbo village. If you don't come at me with the intent to kill me, you won't win." Kakashi pulled out a timer. "This timer is set for lunch. If you do not get a bell by then you will be tied down and forced to watch me eat mine."

"ALRIGHT SO LETS DO THIS!" Naruto yelled as he charged at Kakashi. He threw a punch aimed directly at the Jounin which Kakashi lazily swatted away.

"I didn't say go yet." Kakashi said now 15 meters away from Naruto. "...Go" Malkeru, Sasuke, and Sakura all went and hid while Naruto remained behind to try and fight Kakashi.

Malkeru closed his eyes and begin to think. 'There's no way those bells are the real objective. Thinking we would actually be able to steal them without him allowing us is a folly. So what's the real goal..' Malkeru opened his eyes and saw Kakashi fighting a bunch of Naruto shadow clones which he dispatched with ease. Malkeru went back to his thinking 'It's gotta be teamwork. The entire test is designed to pit us against each other. I just hope the others realize it' Malkeru saw Sasuke attacking Kakashi when he next opened his eyes. Sasuke's Taijutsu was impressive, but no where near the Jounin's level. Malkeru thought this would be the perfect time to strike and activated his Sharingan.

"Damnit!" Sasuke said aloud as Kakshi grabbed a kick he had aimed at his face. Sasuke twisted his body and aimed another kick, which the Jounin caught easily. Malkeru took this chance to deliver a kick to Kakashi's abdomen. Kakashi was forced to drop Sasuke in order to dodge it.

"Sasuke, we need to work together to get those bells. We can't face a Jounin alone." Sasuke turned to face Malkeru and noticed his eyes.

'How..how can..I must be seeing things' Sasuke thought as he looked away. "What's your plan?" He asked Malkeru

"We need to lure him into a false sense of dominace so I can unleash my jutsu. When he's distracted by dodging that you need to body flicker and grab the bells. Sound good?" Sasuke hated admitting when others were doing well but Malkeru's plan was the best they had.

"Hn," was the only response Malkeru was going to get. With that Malkeru and Sasuke both charged at their teacher. Sasuke opened with a few quick punches and jumped back as Malkeru threw three Kunai at thier teacher. Kakashi dodged the Kunai with ease and even started to read a book as he fought the two Genin.

'This is good,' Malkeru thought to himself. 'He has no idea a Genin would know this jutsu. "NOW SASUKE!" Malkeru yelled as he started weaving his handsigns. Sasuke jumped out of the way and Kakashi looked up from his book to see his student making a tiger sign.

'Fire style?' Kakashi thought. 'Nah, this is clearly a bluff, Genin can't do firestyle.'

"KATON! GOUKAKYUU NO JUTSU!" Malkeru yelled as the firmiliar sensation of the fire jutsu came to him. Kakashi jumped out of the way immediately as Malkeru knew he would.

"Quick little buggers aren't they." Kakashi said not expecting Sasuke to come out of nowhere. Sasuke grabbed the bells and dodged his Sensei's attempt to grab them back. When he landed he tossed one bell to Malkeru.

"Well Kakashi guess we got the bells huh?" Malkeru said, panting. Fire jutsu and Sharingan really drew his chakra out. It was then that Kakashi noticed his students red eyes.

'Oh, the third is going to explain this one to me right after.' Kakashi thought to himself. "Well, good job. I guess you and Sasuke pass." and that was true. Even if they decided who to kick out, Sasuke and Malkeru had demonstarted excellent teamwork.

"Nope." Malkeru said. Sakura and Naruto had begun to come out of the wood works after seeing the battle. "I don't pass, I give my bell to Naruto." Malkeru said as he tossed it to Naruto. They heard the timer go off.

"Oh? And why is that?" Kakashi asked Malkeru.

"I am able to pass the academy with ease. Knowing all the material already, it will take me six months max to pass the test again. Naruto however, while a good Shinobi, is terrible at school. Translating it to a real mission. I am the most app one to sacrifice myself for the rest of the team to succeed."

'Good work' Kakashi thought. "And you Sasuke?"

"I pass, and pick Sakura to pass with us."

'And why is that?' Kakashi asked again, hoping for a good answer.

"Malkeru has already sacrificed himself for this mission. He died allowing us to escape. There is no point in me killing myself off as well. Malkeru's sarcifice also allows us to save Sakura as well, validating it."

"Well, you've both thought this out. So, I guess that means. All four of you pass."

"W-what?" Malkeru asked stunned.

"This test was never about the bells. I allowed Sasuke to grab the bells from me. I saw his body flicker coming from kilometers away. The test was really to see if you could work as a team and make tough decisions. Malkeru was able to make the decision of going back to the academy, which represent dying on a mission. And Sasuke was able to make the distinction of when it was time to allow a comrade to sacrifice himself to save anothers life. Sakura and Naruto stayed back and allowed a good plan to go into play, but, they were watching, ready to help. That, is teamwork at its core. Knowing when to fight, and when to allow your team to fight in your stead. You all pass." Kakashi finished his speech smiling. This was the first team to ever pass his test.

"Yahoo!" Naruto yelled, jumping in the air. Even Sasuke smiled. "NOW LET'S GET RAMEN TO CELEBRATE!" Naruto said, running towards town.

Malkeru left the ramen shop 20 minutes later stuffed. Naruto, however, was continuing to pack it away. God that boy could eat. When Malkeru arrived home he saw Kiba and Hinata waiting for him on the porch, chit chatting about the test. When Malkeru arrived they told him all about it.

"So, let me get this straight. With the three best tracking clans in one squad they gave you...a tracking mission?" Malkeru said, clearly jealous.

Kiba picked up on it and said "Yup, and as the best Inuzuka Genin, we did it no problem. Malkeru shot him daggers. "What was your test?" Malkeru explained the test to them, his plan with Sasuke, and evuantually sacrificing himself for the good of the group.

"That was a r-r-really n-nice thing to do M-M-Mal." Hinata managed to get out, turning red.

"Hmmm? I guess so. I just knew Naruto wouldn't be able to pass the exam again. He's a good shinobi, but, not a very good student at all."

Kiba laughed at that. "That's so true!"

Hinata looked at Malkeru "M-M-Mal, d-do you t-think I can s-s-see the Inuzuka s-s-stuff n-now?"

"Oh ya, I promised to show you didn't I? Do you wanna see the kennel?" Hinata got really red when he asked her that for somereason, Malkeru didn't really understand.

"Y-y-y-yes I would, M-M-Mal." Hinata was a form of red Malkeru had never seen before. Her heart also seemed to be racing. He knelt in front of her, taking her hands in his. "M-M-Mal?" she asked him when he did.

"You can't see the dogs with your heart racing like that. You'll scare them. Remember, look into my eyes and take deep breaths." Hinata did as she was told. She felt comfortable with Malkeru, he seemed to calm her down. When her heart stopped racing Malkeru led her to the kennel while Kiba decided to stay behind. When his brother was out of earshot he started laughing.

'Ha, now I get the blushing. She can do better, but, good on Mal!' Kiba laughed even harder at his thought.

Malkeru led Hinata to a large house behind the main house Kiba and Malkeru lived in. It really was a house, which surprised Hinata. These were animals after all, right? It had a kitchen/dining room for the dogs to eat in, bedrooms lined with dog beds, and a "living room" for the dogs to play in. Hinata asked about this and Malkeru calmly explained it.

"Well, to the Inuzuka dogs aren't animals. They're our friends, and our family. Our dogs are special trained ninken, not just pets. An Inuzuka cannot just walk in here and take any dog they want. A dog picks its partner. All of our speciality jutsu rely on that bond between man and dog."

"I see.." Hinata said. "So, which dog is yours?"

Malkeru tensed up. "I uh..I don't have one. No dog has picked me." Hinata realized her mistake and turned red again.

"Oh I'm s-so sor-sorry I-" Malkeru cut her off by grabbing her hand and pulling her close to him.

"Just breath." he whispered in her ear.

'Why do I feel so calm when I'm close to him' Hinata wondered. When she was calm Malkeru released her.

"Good, now that your calm, you can see the puppies."

"Puppies?!" Hinata squealed. Malkeru smiled. All girls got that way when they found out they got to see the famous Inuzuka puppies. He led her into a back room of the house. There were several dividers in the room that seperated five enclosures. In one of them was a beatiful golden lab with eight puppies laying around her. Malkeru picked one up.

"Sadly, we only had one mother go into heat recently and get pregnant. We usually have three or four around this cycle." Malkeru explained as he handed Hinata the puppy. The puppy instantly warmed up to her and started licking her face.

"Hehe, that tickles." Hinata was giggling like crazy.

"It seems like he likes you. In the Inuzuka clan that means you have the right to name him. Would you like to?" Malkeru said, pointing at the small lab.

"You mean it? I really get to name this cute little thing?" Hinata asked, clutching the puppy close to her face.

"Yup, if you want to that is."

"Of course I do!" Hinata held the dog and thought for a while. "How about Aiko?" (Aiko roughly translates to "little loved one")

"Aiko it is." Malkeru said pulling a collar off of a hook and putting it on little Aiko. He then made a note on a piece of paper.

"What are you writing down?" Hinata asked Malkeru, pointing at the paper.

"Well, the collar is to tell him apart from the other dogs." Malkeru said pointing at the blue collar on the dog. "We have 100 of them, all with different colors and patterns. When a dog likes someone and that person names them, the dog is given a collar. The color and pattern of the collar is then wrote down, and the name they were given is written next to it. See?" He showed her his writings saying 'Plain blue collar - Male – Aiko'. "It's offical now, the little guys name is Aiko"

Hinata smiled and held the puppy some more. After a while Tsume came out to see the children and told them it was getting late and Hinata should be getting home. Hinata thanked Malkeru for showing her a good time and ran home. Tsume stopped Malkeru before he walked out of the kennel.

"Son, you've had lots of friends over before. Boys and girls. But you've never shown any of them this kennel. I don't mind, in fact, I'm happy to teach others about how much we care for these dogs. I'm just wondering. Is my son finally taking an interest in girls?" Malkeru stopped for a minute and thought.

"I don't know mom. I mean, I like Hinata. She's special and not like other girls."

"Oh?" Tsume said smiling "What do you mean by that?"

"Every other girls is what you would call a "fan girl" they fawn over someone just because of their physical appearance. Hinata isn't like that though. She's very aware of everything around her. I can actually hold a conversation with her."

Tsume just smiled some more before saying, "Go wash up. It's dinner time." and pushing her son out the kennel door. Tsume smiled again, she was happy for Malkeru. She knew how hard of a time he was having, dealing with being adopted. It was nice to see he cared about someone.

Kakashi Hatake sat in the third's office, giving his report on the young shinobi's results "..And I passed them all. They showed great teamwork."

"All of them?" The third asked surprised. "Kakashi, you've never passed anyone before. Ever. I'm surprised."

"No one ever worked together before." Kakashi said shortly. "There is something else though, third. One of my kids activated a Sharingan...and it wasn't the Uchiha."

The Hokage took a drag from his pipe "Is that so Kakashi? Which one?"

Kakashi looked at the Hokage sternly. "We both know very well who it was. Do I get to know the story behind this?"

The Hokage sighed. "I suppose it is apt for you to know. Please, have a seat. This story takes a while."


	5. Chapter 5 - Through the Mist!

The next month or so went by without many problems. Every day before missions Malkeru would wake up an hour or so before he had to leave to meet his team and practice his Sharingan control. From Eight am to noon Sasuke, Sakura, Naruto, and Malkeru would spar and train their jutsu control while waiting for Kakashi who was always late. Noon they would break for lunch before doing D rank missions. From catching Tora, the Fire Daiyos wife's cat, to delievering mail, to helping out on farms outside of Konoha. At night, he would spar again with Hinata. Every day she was becoming more and more self confident and stronger, she even opened up to Malkeru about her families hidden stlye, and he told her about his Sharingan. They completely trusted each other.

Panting Malkeru held up a hand "Alright Hinata, I've used too much Chakra on Sharingan dodging your gentle fist style. To be able to close chakra points with a touch, it's amazing."

Hinata smiled and blushed again. She'd been blushing more and more whenever Malkeru complimented her. "Thank you Mal, I'm just worried about continually closing your chakra points." her stutter had also stopped, except when Malkeru was close to her or touched her.

Malkeru stood straight and took a deep breath before saying "Don't worry. Doing missions and using my chakra while some of my points are closed is forcing me to power through it, increasing my chakra supply. By sparing with you and helping your gentle fist style, you're helping my chakra pool and control." Hinata smiled again.

"Hai! I understand Mal." she was panting as well, she had used quite a bit of chakra trying to hit him. "It's getting late, I should be going now before father gets worried." Hinata left and Malkeru said good-bye before walking inside his house. Hana was waiting with dinner already done when he walked inside.

"Oh, is Hinata not staying for dinner?" Hana asked, obviously dissapointed.

"Naw, we sparred longer than usual and her father gets worried if she's not home before it gets dark." Malkeru responded, getting a glass of water.

"You guys have been spending a lot of time together." Hana said as both of them sat down to dinner. Tsume and Kiba were both out of town picking up things for the kennel. They were expecting a bunch of new puppies soon and would need extra supplies they couldn't get in Konoha.

"Ya, I guess we have."

"So..when are you gonna ask her out?" Malkeru nearly choked on his food.

"Do-Do what n-now?" Malkeru said, still choking.

"You know, ask her out. Take her on a date." Hana said, laughing at how uncomfortable she was making her brother.

"We're not dating." Malkeru said plainly.

"No, maybe not. But you wanna be." Hana said, delighted at the uneasiness of her brother.

"We're not talking about this." Malkeru said getting up from the table. "I love you Hana, but, I realy don't wanna talk about this." Malkeru started to go upstairs "I'm going to bed, I have my first C rank mission tomorrow..we'll talk about it when I get back, okay?"

Hana just laughed. Neither Kiba nor Malkeru could ever tell her no to something she wanted to know.

The next morning Malkeru sat at the village gates waiting for his team to arrive. To pass the time he channeled chakra into his eyes while he meditated. Since he started training his eyes the amount of time he could use Sharingan had increased from ten minutes to two and a half hours.

"Oi! MAL!" Naruto yelled, distrubing his peace. "You ready to go!?"

Malkeru sighed and rose from his meditation "Yes Naruto, I am ready. Where is everyone else?" The mission was suppose to start 20 minutes ago. He could understand Kakashi being late, but Sakura? Sasuke?

"Oh ya, I was suppose to tell you that." Naruto said with his trademark goofy grin. "I bumped into Sasuke and Sakura they were trying to track down the drunk old bridge builder." Their C rank mission was to escort a bridge builder to the land of waves. Nothing big, just protect him from bandits and the like.

"You probably should start opening with stuff like that, Baka." Malkeru muttered under his breath. "So what, we wait?"

"Guess so." Naruto said walking around. Malkeru sat down and began to meditate again. Hours passed and Naruto and Malkeru were still stuck waiting outside. Finally, after what seemed like years, Sasuke, Sakura, Kakashi, and the bridge builder arrived. For once in his life, Nartuo didn't make a big scene out of this and the gang headed out. Everything was going good, until the bridge builder Tazuna spoke up.

"So, am I really going to be safe with these brats protecting me?" he said, looking at Kakashi. Malkeru could smell the sake on his breath and just let the comment slide. Naruto however...

"Hey old man! Don't mess with ninjas!" Naruto exclaimed "I'm incredible! One day I will take on the super elite ninja title of Hokage, Naruto Uzumaki! Remember that name!"

"Isn't Hokage the number one ninja in the village?" Tazuna asked. "No way someone like you could ever become Hokage."

"Shut up old man! One day I'll become Hokage and you'll be forced to acknowledge me."

'Oh god, Naruto is going to get us fired before we even reach the Land of Water' Malkeru thought to himself.

"No, I won't." Tazuna coldly replied to Naruto. "Even if somehow an idiot like you becomes Hokage."

Sasuke and Malkeru both grabbed Naruto by the collar as he charged at the bridge builder, screaming "I'LL KILL YOU OLD MAN"

Trying to break the tension Sakura spoke up. "Tazuna, you're from the Wave Country, aren't you?"

The old drunk looked at the pink haired Kunoichi. "Ya, what of it?"

"Well, I was just wondering. Are there Ninja from that part of the country too?

"No, not in the wave country." Kakashi interjected. "But, in most other countries. The culture and customs may be different, but ninja villages exsist and so do other ninjas." Kakashi saw the worried look on his students faces and said, "But, don't worry. This is a C rank mission. There won't be any ninja combat on a C rank mission." Kakashi stopped walking at this point and Malkeru noticed. He was focused on a puddle for some reason.

"Sensei, is everything okay?" Malkeru said, worried about his teacher.

"Ya..it's nothing. Let's keep moving." They walked for about 10 meters when Malkeru heard the sounds of a chain flying through the air. The group turned around to see a straggling Kakashi wrapped in chains, and two ninja holding the chains wrapped around him.

"One down." one ninja said as they both pulled on the chains. The barbed links tore Kakashi into a million pieces. Before anyone could react they appeared behind Naruto. "Two down." the duo said, eyeing up their next prize. Sasuke was already on it though, throwing several shuriken at the enemies pinning their chains to trees.

"Naruto, look out!" Malkeru called as he tackeled Naruto down, keeping him from being decapitated by the duo of ninjas. Sharigan activated Malkeru hopped into action with Sasuke. With the two ninja pinned it was easy enough for Sasuke to hit one while Malkeru hit another. Luck was not on their side however. The two ninja quickly recovered after Malkeru's roundhouse to the gut of the first and detached their chains. Their speed was incredible, not even Malkeru's sharingan could keep up with them. They ran right past Naruto, Sasuke, and Malkeru and straight for Tanzu and Sakura.

'Have to protect Tanzu!' Sakura thought as she jumped in front of him, kunai drawn into a defensive stance.

'No! I can't reach her in time.' all three of the boys thought, at the exact same moment. Malkeru closed his eyes, not wanting to see a friend die in front of him. He waited for the scream, but, it never came. When he opened his eyes, Kakashi was there, holding the two shinobi in a choke hold.

"Naruto, sorry for not saving you right away. I didn't think you'd freeze up like that. But, I had to see what these guys real target was. Nice work Sasuke and Malkeru."

'Why did I freeze up!' Naruto yelled at himself. 'Mal and Sasuke were so cool about it, both of them even saving me.. How can I be Hokage if I can't even fight!'

"You alright...scaredy cat?" Sasuke said, taunting Naruto.

"Save it you two. Naruto, their claws are soaked in poison, we have to remove it immediately." Kakashi said, nodding at Naruto's hand. Malkeru hadn't even noticed them getting a slash at Naruto. They were so fast. "Don't move much or the poison will spread through your entire body. We have to open the wound and drain it." Kakashi then diverted his attention to the drunk "Tazuna."

"W-what is it?"

"We need to talk. These guys are chunin rank ninja from the Hidden Village of the Mist. They are ninja known to keep fighting no matter what." One of the ninja woke up and looked at Kakashi

"How did you read our movements."

Kakashi looked at the man as if it was obvious. "On a sunny day like today when it hasn't rained in weeks, a puddle shouldn't exsist." he looked back at Tazuna. "These ninja were clearly not after us, once they realized their mission was in danger they headed straight for the main target. You. You never informed us shinobi were after you, only bandits and thieves. This is at minimum a B rank mission now."

Sakura spoke up. "We aren't ready for this, let's head back to the village. Naruto needs medical attention." Out of the corner of his eye Malkeru saw Naruto drawing a kunai from his pouch. He turned his head to see Naruto plunge the kunai into his hand. "Naruto! What are you doing?!"

"I won't lose to those two anymore. With this kunai..I'll protect the old man! We're continuing the mission!" Naruto said, raising his hand to show off the kunai.

"Naruto.." Kakashi said sternly. "It's good you are releasing the poison but..anymore and you'll die from blood loss...seriously."

"What?! No! I can't die from this!" Naruto screamed. Kakashi began wrapping the wound and Malkeru zoned out. He was thinking about the now B rank mission he was on. Would he make it back from this? His enemies were clearly dangerous, and even his sharingan couldn't keep up with their movements. Not to mention, they were only Chunin! What if they send a Jounin next?'

The rest of the journey went by without incident. Naruto and Sasuke argued some more, as well as Naruto and Tazuna. Sakura and Malkura decided it was just a waste of energy trying to stop them and zoned them out. Malkeru continued training his eyes while they walked, closing them and using his hearing to guide him. When they reached the outskirts of the wave village they saw the bridge Tazuna had to finish. It was giant, to say the least, although only half done. It seemed all he had to do was finish connecting the two pieces.

"Impressive" Malkeru said, complimenting the bridge builder. A grunt waas the only response he got back. A boat was waiting for them at the edge of the lake that seperated them from the wave village. Malkeru noticed the engine was missing from it, replaced by oars instead.

"Are we almost there?!" Naruto yelled, about half way across the river. His impatience was really starting to get on Malkeru's nerves.

"Shhh." The boat driver said, putting his pointer finger to his lips. "Why do you think we're staying in the fog and removed the engine young shinobi? We're trying to remain undetected by Gatou."

"Gatou?" Naruto asked, scratching his head.

"Gatou is a shipping magnate, offically. Unoffically, however, he sells drugs and other illegal items, using ninjas and gang members to take over businesses and countries. He's a very dangerous man." Tazuna took another swig of sake before continuing. "It was about a year ago he set his sights on the wave country. Now he controls all shipping in and out of the country. The only thing he fears is the completion of this bridge."

"So, because you're building the bridge you're in the way." Sakura deduced.

"Those shinobi must have been hired by Gatou." Sasuke added. Malkeru took a look over to Naruto and sighed.

'The baka doesn't get it.' he thought to himself.

"We're close Tanuza." The boat operator said. "I'll take you to the path with the most vegetation, it should make you harder to be seen by the enemy." The operator took them about three kilometers further and dropped them off. They would have to talk the rest of the distance to the bridge.

"Alright! Get me home safely!" Tazuna said, slurring his words. The sake was clearly having an effect on him.

"Yes yes.." Kakashi muttered, not really paying attention to the client. 'If we get attacked again, it won't be by chunin. No, it will certaintly be by a jounin rank ninja.'

"THERE!" Naruto shouted, throwing a shuriken into a nearby bush. He hadn't managed to find an enemy, instead, he killed an innocent snow rabbit.

"Naruto!" Sakura cried running to the rabbit. "Look what you did!"

"Naruto please stop throwing shuriken randomly, it's seriously dangerous." Kakashi said grabbing the shuriken from Naruto's hand. Kakashi's eyes widened "EVERYBODY DOWN!" He yelled ducking. Malkeru tackled the drunk bridge builder. If Malkeru had been half a second later both he and the Tazuna would have been decapitated by the giant sword that flew by them, lodging halfway into a tree fifteen meters away. A man landed on the hilt of the sword, his face was covered in bandages up to his eyes. On his head he wore a haite-ate with the symbol of the village hidden in the mist. Something was odd about it though, a giant scratch was in the metal of the haite-ate, right through the hidden mist symbol. "Well..well.." Kakashi said, raising himself slowly. "If it isn't the hidden mist missing nin Zabuza Momochi." Naruto started to charge towards the missing nin but Kakashi held out a hand to stop him. "Everyone get back. This one is on a whole other level." Kakashi raised his hand to his slanted haite-ate and started to raise it. "If I don't use this, it may be a little tough.." Kakashi revealed his left eye, showing everyone his Sharingan. The only difference from Malkeru's was that his had three tomoes instead of two.

'Three tomoe?' Malkeru thought, examining his teacher's eye. 'Will mine someday become that? Can the Sharingan evolve?'

"Ah, I already get to see the infamous Sharingan, I'm honored. I'm sorry 'copy cat Kakashi' but the old man is mine." Zabuza said, removing his sword from the tree. His raw strength terrified Malkeru

'So this is the power of a Jounin?!' Malkeru activated his Sharingan as well, getting ready.

"Kakashi sensei? What the hell is a Sharingan?" Naruto asked.

"They say there are abilities that allow you to defeat all types of jutsu. Genjutsu, Taijutsu, Ninjutsu, anything. The Sharingan is one of these abilities." Sasuke explained to Naruto, who was just scratching his head as if he didn't understand.

"That's right." Zabuza chimed in, raising his giant sword to his shoulder. "The even scarier part is that the Sharingan allows you to copy your opponent's jutsu as they do them. When I was in the Mist I had a bingo book that had you in it. And this is what it said, 'the man who had copied a thousand jutsu 'copy cat Kakashi''."

'What's going on?' Sasuke thought to himself, aggrivated. 'The sharingan is a kekkei genkai that only appears in select members of the Uchiha clan. How do Sensei and..' he glanced over at Malkeru and saw his eyes had appeared just like Kakashi's '..him have it?!'

"Well Kakashi, to get to the old man, it would appear I have to kill you first." In a instant Zabuza dissappeared, leaving nothing but leaves in his wake. The group scanned the area for him and Sakura found him first.

"OVER THERE! ON THE WATER!" She yelled, pointing at a lake near the group.

"Don't worry." Kakashi started, trying to calm his group. "He'll come after me first. As a Ninja of the mist, Zabuza was trained in silent killing. He was more of an expert at it, I should say, and it's not like I can use Sharingan perfectly so..be careful."

"The mist is getting thicker!" Naruto pointed out, shocking everyone.

'This is not good!' Malkeru thought, fear starting to get to him. 'I can use my Sharingan on him if I can't see him and I don't have many jutsu of my own!'

"Don't worry you guys. I'll protect you even if it kills me." Kakashi exclaimed, taunting Zabuza. "I don't let my comrades die." Malkeru swore he saw Kakashi smiling underneath his mask. In the blink of an eye, Zabuza landed in the middle of Malkeru, Sasuke, Sakura, Naruto, and Tazuna, his sword drawn menacingly.

"It's over!" He yelled, bringing his sword around for the final strike. But, Kakashi was faster. Using a kunai he blocked Zabuza's massive sword while stabbing him with the kunai in his other hand.

"Sensei! Behind you!" Sakura screamed. The Zabuza he stabbed had turned to water as the real one appeared behind Kakashi, cleaving him in two with one powerful strike.

'No way!' Zabuza thought, his eyes wide open. Kakashi had also turned to water. 'He copied my jutsu...in this mist?!'

"Don't move." Kakashi said, a kunai to the neck of Zabuza. "It's over". Everyone except Sasuke seemed to almost cheer at Kakashi. Sasuke never cheers though. Ever.

"That was impressive." Zabuza congratulated Kakashi. "From the time you told them 'I don't let my comrades die' you had already copied my jutsu and let your clone say those words while you waited in the mist and watched my plan...but.."

"THAT ONES A FAKE TOO!" Naruto yelled, warning Kakashi. Kakashi managed to duck under Zabuza's massive swing. However, unfortunately for Kakashi, Zabuza was a master of his blade. He dug the blade into the ground using the hilt to twist his body around and land a devestating kick to Kakashi's ribs, sending him flying in the air. Zabuza drew his sword once more and charged toward Kakashi, stopping millimeters before Kakashi's makibishi (tiny ground spikes). Kakashi used this distraction to escape into the water.

'Foolish' Zabuza thought as he jumped on top of the water, using his chakra to stand afloat on the surface. Kakashi surfaced just in front of Zabuza as Zabuza weaved some handsigns. "Suiton! Suirō no Jutsu!" (water style! Water prison technique) Kakashi was trapped in a sphere of water, unable to escape. "You tried to escape to the water. Big mistake. Now, I'll just let my clone deal with your students." Zanuka made an one handed handsign. "Mizu Bunshin no Jutsu!" A second Zabuza appeared where Kakashi had killed the first. Faster than anyone could react the clone punched Naruto in the face, knocking off his hand band and sending him flying. Naruto got up, panting. He seemed to have a renewed vigor to him and charged at the water clone Zabuza. To no ones surprise Naruto was knocked back again, he landed right next to the group. That was when Malkeru noticed it.

'The headband? He took that kind of beating for the headband..?' Naruto raised himself up, panting heavily as he did so.

"Put this in your book Zabuza..." He said as he tied his headband. "The man who is going to be the next Hokage! Naruto Uzumaki of the leaf village!"

'Is this really Naruto? He's never been this brave.' Malkeru was stunned at Naruto's new vigor.

"Sasuke" Naruto said.

"What is it?"

"I've got a plan."

"Teamwork from you? Heh, let's do it."

Naruto smiled a devilish smile at Sasuke. "Ready to get wild?"

The water clone Zabuza laughed at them "Fine if you boys want to keep playing ninja..SO BE IT!" He charged at Sasuke knocking him to the ground. The force of being thrown to the ground was so great it caused Sasuke to spit up blood.

"Kage bunshin no jutsu!" Naruto screamed as fifteen of him appeared. They piled onto the clone Zabuza but it did nothing, Zabuza knocked them back as if they were nothing. While sliding back Naruto was digging into his pack. "SASUKE! CATCH!" Naruto tossed a giant Shuriken to Sasuke.

'I see, so this is his plan' Sasuke raised unraveling the Shuriken. "Evil wind Shuriken! Devil's windmill!" Sasuke threw the Shuriken, missing the water clone on purpose and aiming for the real Zabuza

"Ha! You brats really think you can hit me with this!" Zabuza yelled as he grabbed the giant Shuriken. All according to plan. From the shadow of the shuriken another one appeared, and Zabuza had no free hands.

'That's the shadow shuriken technique' Kakashi thought, smiling at his students creativeness. But, his smile was too soon it seemed. With the shuriken mere meters from him Zabuza had no choice. He jumped over the shuriken, barely avoiding getting his legs chopped off.

"Guess your plan didn't work, did it?" Zabuza smirked, he had won.

"Actually, ya, it did!" A voice behind him yelled. Naruto had appeared in place of the shuriken, he had used the henge jutsu to transform into it! Naruto drew a kunai and tossed it at Zabuza, there was no way he could dodge this one! Zabuza again had no choice, he released the Suirō no Jutsu enclosing Kakashi and dodged. Naruto still managed to get at tiny scratch across his cheek though.

"YOU DAMN BRAT!" Zabuza yelled enraged as Naruto hit the water. Zabuza drew back with the Shuriken he had grabbed and got ready to toss. Thankfully for Naruto, Kakashi was faster. Using the metal plating on his glove he was able to stop the Shuriken. Of course he still bled, but, not as bad.

"Naruto...great plan. Let me take this from here, okay?" Kakashi smiled at his young pupil.

"Heh, so I got distracted and had to release the jutsu, so what?"

"No. You were FORCED to release it. By the boys 'playing ninja' nonetheless." You could hear the cockiness in Kakashi's voice "I'm going to tell you this, I don't fall for the same jutsu twice. What will you do now?" Both ninja jumped back, leaving a cascasde of water in their wake. Malkeru was amazed by what he saw, Kakashi was mimicking Zabuza's every move. Zabuza would raise his hand, so would Kakashi. If Zabuza moved his leg, Kakashi would move the same leg. Both Shinobi started making handsigns faster than even Malkeru's Sharingan could keep up with

'Is this really Jonin speed? I'm not even close to this level!'

"Suiton! Suiryudan no Jutsu"(Water style! Water dragon blast technique) Both shinobi shouted, a giant dragon forming behind them. The two dragons collided in mid air, creating an explosion of water. The lake was churning from the pure force of the jutsu. The shinobi collided again, kunai meeting sword in a flash of steel and sparks.

"DAMNIT KAKASHI! I'LL MAKE IT SO YOU NEVER USE THAT-"

"Eye again, right?" Kakashi interrupted.

"H-how are yo- are you seeing the future"

"Yes. Spoiler, you die." Kakashi began making handsigns before Zabuza could react. "Suiton! Daibakufu no Jutsu!" (Water style! Water explosion technique!) Zabuza couldn't react in time and was swept away by Kakashi's great waterfall. It swept him upon the shore into a tree. Quickly Kakashi threw four kunai, pinning Zabuza to the tree, sealing his fate. "It's over, Zabuz-"

"Ah!" barely noticeable to Kakashi's Sharingan needles had pierced Zabuza's neck, killing him instantly.

"You're right. He's dead." From the trees above them, a masked character had appeared. From it's height and voice Kakashi guessed they were no older than his students. Kakashi studied the character closely

'That outfit and mask..must be a hunter ninja from the hidden mist village.' The masked shinobi body flickered next to Zabuza's corpse.

"WHO ARE YOU?!" Naruto was pointing at the masked figure.

"Don't worry Naruto, their not an enemy. They're a hunting ninja from the hidden mist, am I correct?

"Yes." the figure replied lifting Zabuza's corpse. "I have been hunting this one for a long time, thank you for distracting him for me."

"Hold on!" Naruto shouted, his energy getting the best of him "A guy that strong killed Zabuza, yet he can't be much older than us! We look stupid! How can I understand that?"

Kakashi russeled the blonde shinobi's head. "Well, I know how you feel but..that's also the truth. In this world there are kids younger than you, but stronger than me. It's just something we need to accept Naruto."

"Your battle is over now, and I need to dispose of the corpse since it seems to have many secrets. I bid you farewell." The mysterious figure disappeared with its last words, leaving behind nothing but dust where it once stood.

"Well, we have to get Tazuna home no-" Kakashi fell over suddenly shocking everyone.

"Kakashi sensei?!" Sakura ran to help Kakashi.

"My body..won't move..I used Sharingan too much."

'How does Sharingan have that much of an effect on him? He hadn't been using it more than twenty-five minutes. Even after two hours I can walk, and I've only had these for a little over a month..' Malkeru was very confused at his increased stamina compared to his teacher.

Tazuna seemed to be in good spirits and boasted out "It's fine! Bring him to my house! You all can rest there for a while after a fight like that!" Malkeru and Sasuke each took an arm of their sensei and began to follow the bridge builder to his home. When they arrived the met Tazuna's daughter, Tsunami. She said she was twenty-five, but Malkeru thought she looked much closer to thirty, maybe twenty-nine. She led them to a room where Kakashi could lay and they could wait for him to recover.

"Are you alright Sensei?" Sakura asked after they had laid him down

"Ya, after using the Sharingan for that long I usually can't move very well for a week or so."

"Wow." Sakura said "The Sharingan is incredible, but if it puts that much stress on the body I guess you really have to think before you use it."

"Well, we defeated a really strong ninja this time. We should be safe for a while!" Tazuna exclaimed, clearly excited at how cheap he had gotten such good protection.

"By the way." Malkeru interjected "Who was that masked kid anyway?"

"Well," Kakashi started "The mask he wore is wron by the Hidden Mist special hunter-nin team. They are also known as body erasers. Their duty is to completely dispose of they body without a trace." Kakashi paused as everyone nodded in acknowledgement. Except Naruto, of course. " A ninja's body has within it the secrets of the village's ninjutsu.. information on different chakra types, herbs, and other things that will reveal information about the village. For example, if I died, the secrets of the Sharingan could be revealed. If you aren't careful there's the danger that the enemy will steal your jutsu. A shinobi's body holds much information. So, by killing and dsiposing of the missing-nins who have abandoned their village, the hunter-nins protect the information from getting out. They are the specialist who guard their village's secrets. No sound, no smell..that is a ninja's end."

"So that Zabuza has been chopped up and disposed of? Scary!" Sakura's chill could clearly be seen by everyone in the room. They all went to sleep after that, except Kakashi

'Zabuza is dead, so why does it feel like I am missing something?' was the last thought he had before his body gave out and he fell into a deep sleep.


	6. Chapter 6 - Battle of the bridge!

The next day came too soon for everyone. They were all still sore from the fight. Malkeru looked at Kakashi who looked disturbed.

"Sensei..is something wrong?"

"Hmm? Well..hunter-nins usually dispose of the body right on the scene, how did that masked boy dispose of the corpse?"

"How could we know?" Sakura said "That masked guy took the body with him."

"Yeah..if he needed proof of his work, he could have just taken the head. And the weapons he used to kill Zabuza. Just simple needles.."

"No.." Saskue said, the pieces finally connecting.

"Yeah, exactly." Malkeru said, as shocked as everyone else.

"What are you all talking about?" Tazuna and Naruto said at the same time.

Kakashi got very serious before replying "Most likely.. Zabuza is still alive."

"WHAT THE HELL DO YOU MEAN? YOU SAID HE WAS DEAD KAKASHI SENSEI" Naruto was freaking out.

"Yeah, I did. But that was most likely a temporary death caused by the needles piercing non vital spots in the neck. There's the possibility that the 'hunter-nin' was a fake who wanted to save Zabuza and not kill him, and we cannot ignore that."

"Aren't you thinking too much? Hunter-nin are suppose to kill missing-nin. You said so yourself." Tazuna added.

"No..with all the suspicion we will prepare before it's too late. That's a shinobi rule. Plus, if we did kill Zabuza there's no guarantee that Gatou won't hire an even stronger ninja."  
"But Kakashi, how can we prepare? You can barely move." Sakura asked her sensei.

Kakashi just laughed and laughed. "You guys will recieve training. You're all growing and are ready, espcially you, Naruto!" Naruto beamed at that. Malkeru just slunked.

'How am I being out done by Naruto? During that battle I did nothing..never again. I will never be that weak again.'

"..But obviously this is just training until I get better. You can't beat him without me obviously."

"That sounds no fun." A little boy had walked in.

"Inari! Where have you been? Say hello to these nice ninja who protected Grandpa." Tazuna said, holding his arms open to hug his apparent grandson.

"Mom..they are going to die." Inari said pointing at the Konoha ninja. "There's no way they can beat Gatou."

"Hey Inari listen! I am a super here who will one day become an elite ninja called the Hokage! I don't know this Gatou guy, but he's nothing to me!" Naruto boasted, putting his fist in front of him.

"Pff, what are you stupid? There's no such thing as a hero."

"What?! You little!" Sakura had to hold Naruto back from hitting the small boy.

"Listen." Inari said walking away "If you don't wanna die you should just leave, alright?"

"Where are you going Inari?" Tazuna asked confused.

"To my room to watch the ocean."

"Sorry.." Tazuna had to tried to apologize, but Naruto was already up the stairs. Malkeru sighed. Naruto was always trying to start things that were better left alone. After Naruto came back down, rather quickly Malkeru thought, they left to go training. Kakashi led them, with the assistance of two crutches, to a clearing with in the middle of the woods.

"Alright, today we're going to learn about chakra." Kakashi began.

"Uh, sensei, we already know about chakra. We can use Jutsu can't we?" Sasuke asked.

"Nope! You guys are not using your chakra properly. You guys lack control. Even if you are able to bring out a lot of chakra if you can't control it, the jutsu will lack the power of someone with less chakra. Furthermore, by wasting energy you won't be able to fight as long."

"Soo..what should we do?" Naruto was scratching his head again, a clear sign he was lost.

"Learn to control it through various training methods."

"So what are we doing?" Sakura asked.

"Tree climbing! Before you object, just watch me." Kakashi gimped toward a tree and placed his foot on it. He began to walk straight up the tree until he was hanging upside down from a branch. "See? Tree climbing. Gather your chakra in your feet and climb up a tree. This is something you can do once you can control your chakra."

"Wait a minute! How is learning to climb a tree going to make us stronger?!" Sakura seemed to be as impatient as Naruto today it seemed to Malkeru.

"Here's the main part. Listen closely, the purpose of this training is..first, to train you to control your chakra. To bring out the proper amount to the proper area. As I said earlier, this is the most important part of jutsu. This can be difficult for even a skilled Shinobi to do. The amount of chakra needed is small, but it must be precise and it is said the bottom of the foot is the most difficult place to gather chakra too. So basically if you can master this you can master any jutsu..theoretically. The second thing is for you to develop the stamina needed to control chakra properly. Depending on the jutsu, controlling your chakra properly can be very difficult. And a ninja will usually be gathering his chakra during battle while constantly moving. These types of situations make controlling chakra even more difficult. That's why from this tree climbing, you must gain the stamina needed for this proper control. Well..me talking all day isn't going to accomplish anything. This is something you'll have to learn with your bodies." Kakashi threw four Kunai to his students. "Use these to mark how high up the tree you make it. Then, use that mark as your goal and try to surpass it. You guys won't be good enough to just walk up the tree at first, so, get some momentum and try running up the tree. Got it?"

"Hai!" They all yelled. Naruto took off first, putting too much chakra into his feet and exploding off the tree. Sasuke was second behind, managing to make it up the first couple steps. Sakura and Malkeru got it perfectly on the first try, both making it all the way up.

'Ha, I've been training my chakra control since I learned to activate my Sharingan. This is nothing.'

"Good job Sakura!" Naruto yelled up. "You too Mal!" Sasuke just pouted, like he usually did.

"Well well, guess they are closer to becoming Hokage than a certain someone aren't they?" Kakashi said laughing. "And I guess the Uchiha aren't as elite as some say." Kakashi's teasing only made them try harder. Malkeru had decided to meditate on the perch he had ended up on while Sakura continued running up the tree, slowing down her pace all the while. Kakashi body flickered over to Malkeru.

"Oh? Why aren't we studying with all of our friends?" Malkeru looked at Kakashi and activated his Sharingan.

"I've been doing this exact training with my eyes since I got them. And technically, my meditation is doing the same thing. However, I am focusing on an even smaller region and continually pumping chakra into it."

'So, he's learned chakra control using his eyes? Very unique.' Kakashi sighed, trying now to show his interest. "Very well then, do as you want. You already learned what I was trying to teach so, you can go back if you want."

"No thank you, I'll meditate here and offer advice if I can." Malkeru zoned out after that. When he opened his eyes again it was late and Naruto was shouting at him.

"Mal! We're heading back, you wanna come with?" Malkeru smiled and shouted back.

"Ya, I'm coming down." They headed back to Tazuna's home and dinner was already waiting for them. Malkeru sat down next to Sakura and watched the mayhem that was about to unfold. Naruto and Sasuke had to compete with everything, even eating. They scarfed down food faster than Malkeru thought was physically possible always screaming "More" at relatively the same time. Malkeru finally snapped "God guys, it's just food! It's scarce here as it is! Calm down!" Malkeru got and walked outside, he had no idea why he got so angry. He needed to calm down. Sakura came out to join him.

"Mal..are you okay?" She said, sitting down next to him on the porch. Malkeru finally sat down as well.

"I..I don't know. I don't know why I freaked out. I'm sorry."

Sakura smiled, "It's okay, it happens to the best of us. They were overreacting, but that's how they are. They seem to be really good rivals." Sasuke came out at this point and sat down next to Malkeru.

"Sakura..please let me and Malkeru talk."

"Sasuke you're not g-"

"Sakura, go." Malkeru said. Shocked, she did as she was asked. When she was out of earshot Malkeru began. "I know what you want Sasuke. You saw my Sharingan and you wanna know why I have them. How a lowly Inuzuka got the trait of your high and mighty clan."

"Actually, I just wanted to apologize. But, yes. I want to know how my teammate got the Sharingan."

"I don't know. I was trying to protect someone I cared about and I just..got them. I honestly have no idea. I asked the Hokage and he doesn't know either. I wish I had a better answer for you, I just..don't."

Sasuke thought about Malkeru's response for a second. "..What's it like?"

"What?"

"When the Sharingan is active..what's it like?" Sasuke seemed strangely interested, it was very out of character.

"It's..exhilirating. It feels like I can see anything. I feel immortal, usually.."

"Usually?"

"The last two fights we've been in..I haven't been able to follow anyone's movements..I've felt useless. I've relied so much on these eyes the past month.."

"You..couldn't keep up? With the Sharingan?"

"Nope. I think it's because my Sharingan is a fluke. I don't think it's as good as a pure blood Uchiha's." This made Sasuke smirk which didn't go unnoticed by Malkeru. Sasuke stood to leave.

"That's all I wanted to know. By the way, this conversation never happened." And Sasuke went back inside. Malkeru stayed out a little longer, deciding to meditate and clear his thoughts.

The next few days was the same. Training followed by dinner then meditating and to sleep. Malkeru missed Konoha a lot. He also found himself missing Hinata for some reason..maybe Hana was right..maybe he should ask her out. On the seventh day of training Malkeru had to help Naruto and Sasuke back to the house. They both had managed to climb to the top of the tree but were dead tired. The next day they decided to leave Naruto back while they went to the bridge to protect Tazuna.

"Sensei...does something feel off to you?" Malkeru asked.

"Why do you say that?" Sakura interjected.

"I..I don't know..I just don't feel right." Malker's suspicions were proven correct when they approached the site. All of Tazuna's workers were dead. "So he- is this mist coming in?" It was, a thick mist enveloped the group. Water clones of Zabuza appeared around them.

"I'd just like to say, told you he wasn't dead." Kakashi was smiling at Tazuna.

"Sensei I'm shaking...with excitement." Sasuke was smiling, ready to go.

"Get 'um!" Kakashi was still smiling.

"Don't hog all the fun!" Malkeru said. In a flash of steel and skin Sasuke and Malkeru managed to dispose of the water clones.

"Ha! Too easy!" Malkeru cried, holding his kunai menacingly.

"Hmm. The brats have grown strong. Looks like you have some rivals, eh Haku?" Zabuza and the masked boy had appeared behind them.

"It would appear so," Haku responded, adjusting his mask.

'So..Haku is his name' Malkeru thought to himself. 'Good to know.'

"I'll fight Haku." Sasuke said. "Tricking us with an act like that. I hate bastards like that the most."

"Ha, you don't get to have all the fun Sasuke." Malkeru said, stepping next to Sasuke. "We're gonna do this together. This is one seriously though opponent."

"So be it then." Haku replied hearing their conversation. Not giving his opponents a chance to react Haku sprang into action, slicing at the boy's with his needles. Malkeru activated his Sharingan, pushing Sasuke out of range of the needle attacks. With his training Malkeru was able to keep up with Haku dodging and blocking most of the attacks, but Haku was still so fast. Even if his eyes were able to keep up, his body wasn't. It wasn't five minutes into the battle and Malkeru was already cut up. His shirt was shredded and he had a lot of shallow scratches along his body. Sasuke had rejoined the battle and was throwing in his own moves, but no matter what the boys seemed to do Haku just avoided everything. How could someone this age be so strong?!

"Damnit Sasuke, what can we do!"

"I don't know! You're the one with the Sharingan!"

"Mal has Sharingan..?" Sakura said, confused.

'So the boy is like Kakashi...can't let him get stronger.' Zabuza laughed. "Haku, focus your attacks on the one with red eyes."

"Yes sensei." Malkeru was instantly attack with what seemed like a thousand strikes.

"Gah!" Malkeru grabbed Haku's right hand, grinning. "Heh...you can't attack me with just one hand. I'll block all your attacks now!"

"See..that's where your wrong." Malkeru was shocked by what he saw. Haku was making handsigns with one hand. "Sensatsu Suishō" (Special jutsu thousand flying needles.) out of nowhere ice needles formed around Malkeru, encasing him. "Sadly, this is how you die.." All at once every needle flew into Malkeru, hitting nearly every inch of his body.

'No..this can't be how it ends...my vision..it's going blurry..' The last thing Malkeru saw before everything went black was Sasuke being surrounded by what seemed to be ice mirrors...

'So..this is how I die..I never even got to kiss a girl..' "MAL!" A voice ringed in the back of Malkeru's mind. 'Who..who is that? It sounds so firmiliar..' "MAL COME BACK!" 'It..it sounds like a girl..I always liked girls..' "MALKERU DAMNIT!" Malkeru awoke to his chest being basically pounded in by a pink haired girl. Gasping for breath Malkeru managed to gasp out "S-S-Sakura stop!"

Sakura smiled and held him close "You're alive! I'm so glad, we were all worried about you!" Malkeru looked over at Tanuza and saw even he seemed to be excited. Malkeru looked over and saw Zabuza being held by a bunch of ninken. Malkeru had never seen these dogs before, so he knew they weren't Inuzuka dogs.

"...And now you get to see my original jutsu!" Kakashi was mocking Zabuza. Somehow, Malkeru was able to keep up with Kakashi's hands. He assumed his teacher was going slow to torment the now captured Zabuza. When he finished he clawed his fingers, almost as if he was trying to grab a ball with one hand. With the other he grabbed his arm, just above the wrist. Malkeru heard a crackeling sound as lightning formed in the palm of his teacher's hand.

"How is he..that's amazing!" Malkeru was truly amazed by this jutsu, he had never seen anything like it. So this was the copy cat ninja's original jutsu.

"Rakiri!" Kakashi shouted as the jutsu's power reached its max. Malkeru was nearly blinded by the lightning chakra that admitted from his hands. The jutsu was amazing. Kakashi charged at Zabuza, his speed seemed to double

'How is that speed possible!' Malkeru continued to watch as his sensei cleared the gap in seconds.

"This ends!" Kakashi yelled at Zabuza. An eruption of blood splattered Kakashi's face as hand met body. But, it was not Zabuza's blood. Haku had sacrificed himself, throwing his body in front of Kakashi's Rakiri.

Zabuza just smiled seeing this. "This ends? Wrong again Kakashi!" Zabuza paused for a moment, still smiling. "Good job Haku." Zabuza drew up his sword, the ninken having been released in Kakashi's stupor.

'This boy...is already dead..' Kakashi looked up and noticed Zabuza drawing his sword. 'He..he plans to cut through both of us.' Kakashi managed to Kwarmi away with Haku's body. Sparing the boy that indeceancy.

'Kakashi..he's so strong.' Malkeru felt weak again, and couldn't figure out why. Then he realized 'Sharingan..I never turned it off..' His vision got blurry again '..I'm so stupid..'

Malkeru woke up again in Tazuna's house, in the same bed they left Kakashi in. He rose and instantly felt weak again. "Gah!" Sakura turned to look at him.

"Mal! Just rest, you used a lot of chakra and took quite a beating."

"Wh-what happened?"

"Well, to keep it short. Naruto managed to defeat Haku, or at least hold him after, after Sasuke went down. Haku then took a Rakiri to the chest for Zabuza, I think you saw that. Zabuza was ready to continue to fight us, even willing to sacrifice Haku's body for it. But, Zabuza had a change of heart after talking to Naruto. Gatou ambushed us and Zabuza killed himself killing off most of the guards, he even killed Gatou himself. Then, something even more amazing happened!"

"Hn?"

"The villagers. They rose up and beat back the gangsters that Gatou brought. Lead by Ikari! Isn't that something?"

Malkeru smiled but inside he was torn, 'Again, I did nothing. Saskue and Naruto had to protect me again...damnit!' Malkeru kept smiling, refusing to let Sakura see the internal turmoil. "That's good. Naruto sure has gotten strong huh?"

"Mmmhm!" Sakura was smiling "Kakashi said as soon as you were up I was to help you pack and get out of here. Do you think you can move?"

"Ya, I can. Just my upper body hurts. My legs seem to be fine." Sakura helped Malkeru pack and they left. The send off was rather touching for everyone but Malkeru..and Sasuke of course. After the tears and good-byes they headed home. The road back was uneventful compared to getting there. A few bandit attacks, but nothing major that one of the genin couldn't handle.

"Ah! It feels so good to be home!" Naruto exclaimed when they reached the gate to Konoha. "It's been so long."

"Ya, it has!" Malkeru was in just as good of spirits as Naruto "Later guys! I'm heading back to the Inuzuka compound!" And with that Malkeru jumped to the nearest rooftop and began heading home. He missed everything about the compound. The smell of the dogs, the people, even beating on the losers who were stupid enough to pick fun at him. He missed it all!

"Mom...Kiba..Hana?" Malkeru said walking into his home on the complex. It seemed no one was home. "Huh..must all be on missions." Malkeru headed upstairs to change, the initial mission wasn't suppose to last as long as it did, and he really didn't expect his clothes to be torn to pieces by Haku. He removed his shirt and exposed his heavily bandaged body. 'Damn..that Haku did a number on me'. Malkeru was looking for another shirt when he heard a knock on the door. "Coming!" he hollered racing downstairs. It was Hinata at the door.

"Mal! I'm so ha- what happened?!" Hinata was staring at his bandages, Malkeru hadn't noticed but they had become bloody.

"Oh..I was roof jumping and must have aggrivated the cuts.. my bad" Malkeru laughed at his stupidity.

"L-l-let me change them for y-y-you." Hinata was stuttering again, but she always did when the idea of being close to anyone was brought up.

"Er, alright. Come on in." Malkeru led Hinata to the kitchen table "Wait here, I think Hana has some bandages in her room. I'll be right back." He left Hinata waiting as he searched his sister's room. He finally managed to find some bandages hidden under her table. He started removing his bandages as he walked downstairs, revealing the cuts that littered his body. Hinata got red again seeing Malkeru shirtless and without his bandages.

"P-p-please sit." Hinata said, forcing Malkeru into a chair. She took great care to rewrap Malkeru, stopping whenever he would arch forward. "D-d-did I hurt you?"

Malkeru smiled at his friend, "No, not at all. Your hands are just a little cold."

Hinata got red again "I-I-I'm s-s-sorry!" She seemed so mortified. Malkeru couldn't understand this girl at all, he just smiled again.

"It's fine Hinata. I don't mind." Hinata took her time and made sure Malkeru's wounds were completely wrapped to avoid infection.

"So, how did you get those cuts?" Malkeru noticed once she wasn't touching him, the stuttering stopped.

"Oh, it's a long story. You got time?" So, Malkeru sat and told her all about his adventures on his first C rank, really B rank mission. How he froze up in the first fight, how he saved Naruto from the two shinobi, his fight against Haku. Hinata smiled as he told her, she seemed to be enjoying the story.

"I'm so proud of you Mal! You're so brave!" Hinata hugged him, which surprised him, and apparently her as she immediately let go. "I-I-I'm sorry, I was just e-excited and um.." Hinata was redder than Malkeru had ever seen her, even he felt warm around the cheeks.

"It's uh..it's okay..really." Hinata looked at the floor, clearly embarrassed by what had just happened.

"I should g-go!" Hinata said and ran out the door before Malkeru could respond.

'Girls are weird,' Malkeru thought as he walked upstairs to go to bed. 'Someday I hope I understand them..' Somewhere a white haired ninja laughed for some unknown reason, when asked why he simply responded,

"I think one of my students just thought something really stupid."


	7. Chapter 7 - The Chunin Exams Begin!

**(A/N: Sorry for such a short chapter, really I am. I've been kinda busy lately with the Navy and such. Soldier life isn't the best for college, as it turns out. Anyway, thank you for reviewing, reading, and favoriting so far. I will be uploading two chapters tonight to make up for this being such a short one, so enjoy!)**

The next month or so went by without incident. Malkeru and Hinata still trained every day, deciding to ignore the fact that she had hugged him. Team seven continued doing D rank missions. Kakashi said that they needed time to rest after a B rank mission against Haku and Zabuza, althought Naruto argued, Malkeru silently agreed with Kakashi. Naruto may have healed fast because of the Kyuubi, but Malkeru was still cut up pretty bad. He still had pains whenever he exerted too much force with his upper body. That all changed one day though, as they were finishing up missions.

"Okay, that's it for today, I have to go submit our mission reports." Kakashi never looked up from his trademark orange book as he body flickered away.

"Then I'm going home." Sasuke walked off like he usually did.

"Hey Sasuke, how about right now we practice teamwork..just the two of us.." Sakura was hopeful as always that Sasuke would change his mind about her advances.

"You're the same as Naruto..if you have time to bother me, practice a jutsu or two." Sasuke walked off as cold as always.

"Sakura, if you want, I can teach you a couple jutsu. I've learned a couple while we've been doing these D ranks." Malkeru had hit the library hard when he got back, practicing jutsu with Hinata after their missions.

"No Mal..thank you, but I really wanted to practice with Sasuke.." All three shinobi had to go relatively the same way to go home, so they headed out together. Malkeru felt uneasy, a very obvious "rock disguise" was following them. Although this happened often because of Naruto, Malkeru still didn't like it. He had been raised as an Inuzuka to always hide his tracks, never allow yourself to be followed. Naruto seemed to notice as well, he turned around and faced the box.

"Konohamaru...I know you're hiding under that rock! Rocks don't have two eye holes, baka!"

"Ah! So you found us out!" the rock said, "I'd expect nothing less from my eternal rival!" From under the rock popped out Konohamaru and his two friends though Malkeru could never remember their names, nor did he really care to.

'It was obvious to all of us...' Malkeru's frown of dissapointment at the young shinobi in training was obvious.

"What do you want?" Naruto asked, hands behind his head.

"Uhm, boss, are you free?"

"Nope! I'm training!"

"But you said you'd play ninja with us!"

'Play...ninja..?' Malkeru was so confused by the thought of actual ninja playing ninja. Sakura seemed to be along the same track of thought as he was.

"Why would a ninja..'play' ninja.."

"Hey bro! What's with this girl?" Konohamaru was pointing at Sakura. "Not bad bro."

"Huh?" Naruto was confused as always

"She's your...girlfriend."

"Haha, you brats are pretty observant!"

'Oh, he's dead..' Malkeru took a step back, not wanting to be a part of this.

"WRONG!" Sakura punched Naruto harder than ever, sending him flying back into a fence.

"How dare you! You ugly bitch!" Konohamaru had done it now, even Malkeru was scared for the boy.

'Oh no..' Malkeru jumped up to a tree to avoid the backlash of what was about to happen. Konohmaru got the same punishment that Naruto did, landing right next to the injured blonde ninja.

"Ow! Is that big forehead even a girl? I mean, seriously!"

'He's as stupid and big mouthed as Naruto!' Malkeru thought laughing at the two boys who were now running for thier life. Malkeru looked ahead to where they were going and saw it before Konohamaru ran into it. A man garbed in all black, on his head his wore a haite-ate that seemed to be sown into a cover for his head, like something someone who spent a lot of time in the desert heat wore. Next to him was a girl older than him, she had what seemed to be a giant fan on her back and wore her haite-ate around her like Hinata. The man grabbed Konohamaru around his collar and lifted him off the ground.

'Damnit,' Malkeru lept into action. 'My wounds are nearly healed and I wanted to take it easy!'

"That hurt you little piece of shit." the man garbed in black seemed to be angry. Malkeru also realized he wasn't a man, he couldn't be older than 14 or 15.

"Don't." The girl was speaking now. "We'll get yelled at later."

"I'm sorry for him, we were messing around.." Sakura seemed to be scared, she kept her hands close to her and her arms in a defensive position.

"Hey fatass! Let him go!" Naruto was being himself, not helping in the slightest.

"Like the baka said, I'd let him go." Malkeru was behind the black garbed teen now, kunai to his throat. "I don't like him much either, but, he is the grandson of the third Hokage. As a leaf shinobi, I can't exactly let you harm him, can I?"

"I just wanted to play a bit before the boss showed up." The boy was smiling, he didn't seem to be scared by the kunai at his throat at all.

"LET HIM GO!" Naruto was charging now, throwing all caution of an unknown enemy to the wind. Before Malkeru could respond the boy moved his fingers and Naruto tripped, another flick caused Malkeru's hand to be knocked away, sending his Kunai flying into a fence, almost hitting Sakura.

"I didn't realize leaf genin were so weak." Malkeru was about to activate his Sharingan and show him the meaning of weak when a rock hit the boys hand, causing him to drop Konohamaru.

"What are you bastards doing in our village." Sasuke was sitting in a tree, playing with another rock in his hands.

'Damnit Sasuke, I had this.' Malkeru shot Sasuke a glare, Sasuke either didn't notice or didn't care.

"Ah, another bastard who annoys me."

"Get out." Sasuke had serious killing intent in his eyes, but then again, Malkeru had never known him to show any other emotion.

"Hey bastard get down here! I hate show offs like you more than anything!" The boy took the bandage wrapped parcel off his back and began to unwrap it.

"What?!" the girl grabbed the boy "Are you really stupid enough to use Karasu here?"

'What the hell is Karasu..?' Malkeru drew himself up, ready for a fight.

"Kankuro stop it." Everyone's eyes grew wide, underneath Sasuke a read head shinobi had appeared from out of nowhere, hanging on a tree branch. "You're an embarrassment to our village."

"Ga-Gaara.." The black clad boy seemed to be scared at the red head.

"Losing control of yourself in a fight, how pathetic. Why do you think we came to the leaf village?"

"Listen Gaara, they started it and-"

"Shut up, or I'll kill you."

'What the hell is this guy?' Malkeru was stunned, had he threatened to kill his own teammate?

"Sorry to you guys.." sand surronded the boy and he dissappeared and reappeared next to his teammates "We may have arrived early, but we didn't come to play."

Malkeru dropped his stance a bit, "Why are you here? By your haite-ate I can tell your shinobi from the sand. By your teammates skills and problems controlling his emotions I'd say you're of high genin, low chunin rank even. Which means you should know that shinobi cannot enter another ninja village without permission. So I'll ask again, why are you here?"

"Wow, you really are clueless aren't you?" The blonde girl stepped forward. "You're right, we are genin from the hidden sand. We're here to take the chunin selection exam."

"Chunin selection exam?" Just like Naruto not to get it.

"I got this one," Malkeru stood in front of Naruto "Alright, the Chunin selection exam is where exceptional Genin from each ninja village come together to take an exam to become Chunin."  
"But..why do we take it together?"

"The stated purpose is to promote unity and keep stable relations between the village, but also-"

"Hey Konohamaru! Should I take the exam?!" Malkeru smacked Naruto on top of his head.

"Baka, if you ask a question..listen until the end." Sasuke jumped to the ground.

"What's your name." For somereason the blonde ninja blushed just like Hinata

"Y-you mean me?"

'She even stutters like her, why are girls so damn weird?'

"No. You, with the red hair and gourd"

"...Gaara, of the desert. I'm also interested in your name."

"It's Sasuke Uchiha."

"Hey, what about me?!" That was Naruto, always trying to make it about him

"Not interested." The red head was already walking away. "Let's go.."

The next day they were waiting for Kakashi sensei again, as usual

"This is so unfair. How can he ask us here and then be so late." As if his ears were burning Kakashi appeared in front of them.

"Hello."

"You're late!" Sakura was always so angry with him.

"Good morning! Today I got lost on the road of life an-"

"Ya right!"

"Anyway. This is sudden but, I nominated you guys for the Chunin selection exams."

'What? Does he really think we're ready.' Malkeru had been doubting himself ever since his fight with Haku.

"Now this is a choice, all I did was nominate you. Here are you applications. Those who wish to take the test should take those to room 301 by 4pm tomorrow. That is all" Kakashi dissappeared again, leaving his team to discuss among themselves.

"Yay! Chunin exam!" Naruto was jumping for joy as they all headed back into town.

"There's going to be a lot of strong genin there." Malkeru saw Sasuke smiling for the first time ever.

"Heh, should be fun." Malkeru looked back, Sakura had been rather quiet and that was unusual, she hadn't even flirted with Sasuke once. He saw she was still standing where they had all been given the applications. "Sakura is everything alright?"

"N-no. I can't even keep up with Naruto, how am I going to pass this exam?"

Malkeru walked over and put his hand on her shoulder. "It'll be fine Sakura. You're the smartest ninja I know. You're the only one who was able to beat me in grades at Academy, remember? Even if physically you're not as strong as us, you're smart. And with Naruto on our team, we need all the brains we can't get, don't you agree?"  
Sakura smiled again, "Ya, thanks Mal!" She took off after the group. Malkeru just sighed and headed the opposite way, he wanted to talk to Kiba about this exam and he was sure he was still training with squad eight.

"Damn Hinata! When did you get so good with your Taijutsu" Was the first thing Malkeru heard when he found squad eight training. It brought a smile to his face, he had been helping Hinata with her taijutsu and chakra control for the past two months. She was actually able to back him into a corner and force him to use Sharingan, something she never could have accomplished before the sparring practice.

"Ya Hinata, what awesome shinobi helped you with that." Malkeru laughed as he approached squad eight. Kiba ran over to his brother, pulling his application out of his pocket.

"So, did you get nominated too?" Malkeru pulled his out as well.

"Duh? I am the strongest Inuzuka, of course I did!"

"Like hell you are!" Kiba was growling at this point, Malkeru just laughed some more. His brother was so easy to pull the strings of.

"So, are you going to enter Mal?" Hinata had come over to see what the commotion was.

"I don't know yet, probably. Hey, don't you guys have a third teammate?" Malkeru looked around and saw no sign of Shino or his bugs.

"Ya..he's sick though." Kiba seemed to almost face palm as he said it.

"I'm guessing he did something stupid from your tone?"

"Ya. He was trying to make himself immune to his bugs poison, something I guess the Aburames do everytime they put a new bug into their system. But, he released too much and put himself into a really bad sickness." Malkeru shivered, he hated bugs and couldn't imagine having them inside of him, let alone letting them poison him.

" That sucks. So, are you guys going to enter?"

"Ya, I can't let my little brother be the first chunin in the family, can I?"

"And if I don't enter, my father will say I'm an embarrassment to the clan so..I don't have much choice." Malkeru hated the way Hinata's father talked to her, but he also knew enough not to interfere with other clans business.

"I guess it's settled then, you guys finish training. I'll see you tomorrow at the exams."


	8. Chapter 8 - The first Exam Begins

Malkeru arrived at the exams early, he couldn't sleep and had spent most of the night just meditating at the academy where the applications were to be turned in. He wanted his chakra control to be spot on for this. The rest of the group arrived at around one pm and they walked in together. When they got to room 301 they saw a bushy eyebrowed boy with a bowl cut being knocked back.

"Get back!" A genin from the leaf Malkeru had never seen before knocked the boy back "Pathetic."

"You guys can't even get past us, how can you weaklings expect to pass the exam? Even we have failed this exam three times." A second boy stepped forward, blocking anyone from getting in."

Malkeru just laughed, had no one really noticed. "You two can guard that room all you want, it's of no concern to me. But, you may want to get a better genjutsu next time. This one is really bad." Everyone just stared at him. What did he say? "Sakura don't tell me you didn't notice. You were always better at this then me." Sakura seemed confused for a second, then eyes opened up with realization.

"Of course! This is only the second floor!"

"Clever boy." The taller of the two boys stood forward "How did you figure it out?"

Malkeru smiled again. "I'm an Inuzuka. Since I was a pup I was trained to count my steps so I could always find my way home. I've been coming to this academy since I was eight years old, I could walk it blindfolded. There are exactly fourteen steps between each floor, meaning we should have walked up fourty-two steps. We only walked up twenty-eight."

'Impressive.' Sasuke thought to himself, 'I had noticed the genjutsu too, but for him to know the exact amount of steps? The Inuzuka are better than I thought.'

"You guys can do what you want, but I'm going to the third floor." Malkeru walked by, leaving everyone stunned. Kakashi was waiting for them at the end of the hallway.

"Hello guys! Mal, good job on that genjutsu, really impressive." Malkeru nodded, recognizing his teacher's approval. "Now, I got some bad news for you. Only three of you are allowed to take this test. Quickly decide who is going to drop out."

"What?!" Malkeru nearly yelled, "We went through all the trouble of filling out the application for you to tell us this?! Why not just tell us at the start!"

"Calm down Malkeru, I was half kidding. Only three of you are allowed to take the test. The rules state that only teams of three are allowed to take the exam. No exceptions. Honestly, we've never had a team of four before. This is a rare thing. Luckily for you though, Shino Aburame has become too ill to take the test. I talked to Kurenai and I pulled a few favors to allow one of you to join her team. After discussing it, we thought Malkeru would be the best fit. Kiba is your brother, isn't he?"

"Ya, he is. So..I'm going to be pit against my teammates?"

Kakashi smiled his evil smile that always freaked Malkeru out. "Yup! Gonna be fun, huh? Now Mal, please come with me, I'll take you to your team. They managed to get past the genjutsu an hour ago." Malkeru and Kakashi both body flickered at that point leaving Naruto, Sasuke and Sakura behind.

"Ya! The Inuzuka brother team is back!" Kakashi had explained the situation to Hinata and Kiba, Kiba seemed more excited about it then anyone else. Hinata had just turned red again.

'Days all alone with Mal? How can I handle this?!' She just kept getting redder.

"Right..well, good luck." Kakashi body flickered away, leaving the three shinobi outside of the real classroom three hundred and one.

"Should we head inside?" Malkeru was nervous, but refused to let it show. He knew Hinata and Kiba were feeling the same way. If they weren't gonna show it, neither was he. They opened the door to a large number of shinobi, more than Malkeru had ever seen before. They all wore hitai-ates with various symbols on them, all showing which village they were from. Malkeru felt his chest tighten, most of these shinobi looked to be older than him, some of them had to be in their early to mid twenties. How were a couple of thirteen year olds going to beat them?! This time it was Hinata who helped Malkeru for a change. She put her hand on his shoulder

"Don't worry Mal, you'll do well. After all, we have two of the villages kekkei genaki, don't we?" She was right, they had both the Sharingan and Byukugan. They would be fine. Plus, with Akamaru it was like having a fourth teammate. He had no idea why he was worried. But, just to make sure Hinata turned red again, he put his hand on hers, holding it.

"Thank you Hinata, you're right." He smiled as he saw the firmiliar red appear in her face, she looked down at the ground and Malkeru smiled some more.

"Alright Mal, knock it off. You love birds can flirt later, it's time to focus!" Kiba was pumped to start, he had been waiting all day for this.

"We're not love birds!" Malkeru said, knocking his brother in the back of the head. Malkeru looked around, his outburst had drawn the attention of a lot of the shinobi in the room, they were eyeing him up, trying to read his power level. 'God..I really need a distraction from me' Luckily for Malkeru, Naruto came into the room then with his trademark ambition

"ALRIGHT YOU BASTARDS MY NAMES NARUTO UZUMAKI AND I'M NOT GONNA LOSE TO ANY OF YOU!" Malkeru stepped up to his very obnoxious, very stupid friend,

"Naruto, I'm glad you took the attention off of me, but, did you have to make every single person in here your enemy in one move?"

"Hey, you guys should be more careful. You're genin just out of the academy aren't you? Screaming like a bunch of school girls like you're trying to draw attention to yourself." A white haired shinobi came up to them. He was dressed in purple and from his height and voice Malkeru pinned him to be about seventeen or eighteen. He wore a leaf village hitai-ate but he had never seen him before.

"Who do you think you are?" Sasuke had come in behind Naruto while Malkeru wasn't looking.

"Me? I'm Kabuto. But you should really look behind you. Because of your friends outburst, everyone here now has eyes to take you out. I've seen it before, and it never ends well."

"Before? So this is your second time taking it?" Sakura had also appeared behind Naruto.

"Nope. Seventh. The exam is held twice a year so this is my fourth year."

"Wow, so you know a lot about these exams?"

"Yep, and because I have a soft spot for rookies like you, I'll share some info with you." Kabuto pulled some cards from the pouch tied on his leg. "These are nin-info cards. In them I have information on everyone here. You can't view them unless I channel my chakra into them, like so." Kabuto closed his eyes and focused on the card, as he did the blank card started to form. Malkeru was left looking at a picture of himself, below which were stats rating his strength, agility, accuracy, so on and so forth.

"That's..that's me.."

"Yep, you were hard to find info on. The Inuzuka are rather secrative, but, I found out the basics. Like that you have no combat dog, like most Inuzuka, and that you have several fire style and earth style jutsu beneath your belt. Two chakra natures for a child your age is quite impressive, you should be proud." Malkeru was proud of that, he knew it was impressive, but the comment about his lack of a canine bond stung.

"Anything else about my abilities?"

"Nope, just your jutsu, why is there something I missed?" Malkeru was inwardly happy.

'Good so my Sharingan is still a secret.' Malkeru smiled at the white haired ninja. "Nope, you pretty much hit the nail on the head."

"Quiet down you worthless bastards!" Smoke emitted from the front of the class, causing everyones head to turn. "Thanks for waiting, I am Ibiki Morino, the examiner for the chunin selection exam's first test." Ibiki was a tall man with a scared face, he wore a black cloak and and his hitai-ate was attaced to a bandanna he tied around the top of his head. Behind him was a slew of other shinobi, probably proctors for the exam. "Here's a good opportunity to say this. There will be no fighting without the permission of the examiner. Even if permission is granted, killing your opponent will not be tolerated. Those pugs that disobey me will be failed immediately. Do I make myself clear? We will not start the first test in the chunin exam. Instead of your current seating arrangments, you will pick one of these tabs and sit in the seat assigned to you. We will then hand out the exams." Naruto looked over and saw the other proctors holding a phsycal test.

"WHAT!? A PAPER TEST?!" Naruto was freaking out and Malkeru couldn't blame him, Naruto was a really shitty tester. Malkeru was handed the number 61, he was seated in front of Hinata, and to the right of Kiba.

'Hmm, there's no way for me to feed them information..I really hope they do well.'

"Do not turn your test over until I complete my instructions and you better pay attention. There are many important rules to this first test. I'll write it on the board while I explain, but questions will not be allowed, so listen carefully."

'No questions? What kind of rule is that..' Malkeru was quickly becoming more worried about this test.

"The first rule. You guys will all start off with ten points. The test is made up of ten questions and each question is worth a point but this test uses a subtraction system. Baiscally if you answer all the question correctly, you keep your ten points, but, say you miss three questions, you will be left with seven points instead. The second rule is, this is a team test. Whether or not you pass will be determined by the combined score of your teammates."  
'Whew, Hinata and I are both smart, and Kiba should be able to at least score a four. Assuming Hinata and I can score at least an eight that will leave us with twenty out of thirty that should give us a..' Malkeru did the math quickly in his head. 'Sixty-six percent, not a good grade, but passing.'

"So each team will compete to see how many points they can hold on to from the intial team total of thirty."  
"Wait a second!" Malkeru thought Sakura would be the first one to speak up. She was always like this when it came to test. "I don't understand this inital point system either, but why is it a team test?"

"Shut up, you don't have the right to question me. There is a reason for this, be quiet and listen. Okay, and now the last and most important third rule is that during the exam, anyone caught by the testing officers doing sneaky activities, namely cheating, will have two points subtracted for every offense. So, there will be some who will lose all their poitns during the exam and be asked to leave. We will be watching all of you. Realize that the pathetic ones that get caught cheating will just be destroying themselves. As shinobis trying to achieve the level of Chunin, be proud ninjas." Ibiki took a look around the room, it seems he had sufficently scared them. "And the final rule. Those that lose all their initial points during the test and those that don't answer any questions correctly..will be failed along with their two teammates." Malkeru was intantly glad that he didn't have Naruto on his team. "This exam will last one hour. Okay..BEGIN!" Malkeru looked down at his test, it seemed easy enough.

'Alright, the first question is a cryptogram, easy enough.' Out of the corner of his eye Malkeru saw Naruto freaking out. Glad again he wasn't on his team for this exam. 'Alright..that was simple. Question two. Line B in this picutre is the greatest possible distance a shinobi can throw a shuriken from a tree of seven meters. For enemies who appear within the circumfrence of the Shuriken's range, explain the attack options using this distance. Show your work. How in the hell could someone like Naruto answer this? A question like this takes not only book smarts, but field experience. I'm actually worried about Kiba now.' Malkeru glanced to his left and his fears were instantly lifted. Akamaru was sitting on top of Kiba's head, looking around the room. Malkeru saw Akamaru's jaw moving and knew what was going on. When an Inuzuka bonds with a dog, they were able to by channeling chakra into their ear canals, understand said dog. Malkeru had no problem with the rest of his test, it was not that complicated to be honest. He decided to rest his head for a while. It was better than hearing Naruto freak out one row behind him.

"Okay, we will start the tenth question now." Malkeru raised his head.

'About time.'

"First I would like to go over the rules added for this question. You could say these are rules of desperation. Firstly, you must choose wether or not you will take it."  
The blonde sand kunoichi that Malkeru had later learned was named Termari stood up "What if we choose to to?!"

Ibiki smiled again "If you choose not to, your points will be reduced to zero..you fail, along with your two teammates. Now, the other rule. If you choose to take it, and answer incorrectly, that person will lose the right to take the chunin celection exam again."  
Kiba blasted out of his chair "WHAT KIND OF STUPID RULE IS THAT?! THERE ARE GUYS HERE WHO HAVE TAKEN THE EXAM BEFORE!" Ibiki laughed at the stupid Inuzuka boy.

"You guys are just unlucky. This year it's my rules. But, I am not completely heartless, I am giving you a way out. Those that aren't confident in this question, can try again next year. Now let's begin the tenth question." All around Malkeru people were standing up, saying they were unable to take it.

'Please Hinata, please don't doubt yourself. I know Kiba will never give up but please!' Malkeru looked back at Hinata, he mouthed to her "never give up" and smiled, doing his best to encourage her. He thought it worked as she got red and smiled back. Naruto however, raised his hand. 'Naruto? I never thought you'd give up...'

"DON'T UNDERESTIMATE ME!" Naruto slammed his hand back to the desk. "I WILL NOT RUN" Naruto's outburst seemed to inspire everyone. The shinobi who had begun to raise their hand quickly put it down.

'Good job Naruto, you may be a great shinobi yet.' Malkeru laughed to himself. 'Ya, I forgot, you're that kind of idiot.'

Ibiki stared at the boy. "I'll give you one more chance. This is your future we're talking about." But Naruto would never give in.

"I don't care! I'm going to become Hokage no matter what! I never go back on my word, that's my nindo!(Ninja way)"

"Good decisions. Now to everyone remaining... I congratulate you on passing the first test!"

"What?!" Malkeru yelled outloud, he had no idea what was going on.

"To the seventy-eight who remain, congratulations on passing. Did I stutter kid?"

"What do you mean?" Sakura seemed to be as confused as he was "We already pass? What about the tenth question?"

"There never was one! Or, you could say those two choices was the test if you wanted to. You see, this test was never about the questions, it was about your information gathering ability. Firstly, the test was set up to put enormous pressure on you not to mess things up for your team. But, this test had questions on it most normal genin couldn't answer. This was to force you to realize that you would need to cheat for a good score. To that effect we had several proctors sitting in as students, feeding you all answers." A couple genin stood up and waved. One of them was sitting literally in the seat next to Malkeru. "But, those that cheat poorly fail, of course. Because at times, information is more important than life...and on missions and the battlefield, people risk their lives to get their hands on it. If the enemy or third party notices you, there is no guarantee the info will be accurate. I want you to remember this, information in your hands can be a powerful tool for your village and comrades. This clearly seperated those that did not have the right abilities."

'How did I not get that?' Malkeru had been doubting himself more and more lately. 'I just blindly did the test, didn't even think it through, damnit!'

"Now, let me further explain the reasoning behind the tenth question. Say you become a chunin. Your mission is to steal a secret document. The amount of Ninjas, their abilities, etc is unknown to you, and of course there could be traps set all around you. Now do you accept, or not accept. Because you don't want to die? Because you don't want your comrades to die, can you not accept this dangerous mission? ...The answer is NO! No matter what the danger there are missions you can't avoid. The ability to be courageous and survive any hardship, this is the ability needed to become a chunin captain." Ibiki looked around the room, everyone still seemed to be confused, but not as badly. "Those who can't put their destinies on the line, who cling to the uncertain failure of "There's always next year" and then walk away from their chance. Those pieces of trash who can only make such cowardly choices don't have the right to become chunin, that's how I feel! You made it through the first test! I wish you all luck!"


	9. Chapter 9 - The Forest of Death!

'One down.' Malkeru smiled, this might be easier than he thought. Out of nowhere a black blur burst into the room, kunai attached to what seemed to be a fabric of some sort flew by sticking into the walls, blocking Ibiki from sight.

"You guys! This is no time to be celebrating!" A woman Malkeru had found to be quite attractive appeared in front of the fabric which read 'Anko Mitarashi'. Malkeru assumed that was her name. Her hair was pulled back into a rather spiky pony tail, and she wore a rather reveavling cross stiched one piece with a skirt barely covering her. Over that she wore an open robe. "I am the Examiner for the second test! Let's go! Follow me!" She looked around and counted out the remaining genin. "Seventy-eight? Ibiki you left twenty-six teams? Your test must have been too easy."

"This time there just happened to be a lot of outstanding ones."

"Bah, that's fine, I'll cut them in at least half with the next test. Let's go!" Anko led them to a abandoned forest surronded by a gate Malkeru had never seen before "This is practice field number fourty-four. ANBU, however, refers to it as the 'forest of death'. And you'll soon find out why it has that name." Malkeru didn't think he had ever seen someone smile as big as this woman was.

"You think that name scares me?! I'm not scared of anything!" Naruto was taunting the Jonin now.

"Yeah, you're spirited." Still smiling Anko whipped a kunai at Naruto, leaving a scratch on his cheek. Before anyone noticed she was behind Naruto. "But, you all bleed that red blood I love." she the procceded to like the blood from Naruto's cut. A man surprised Anko, his long tong holding her kunai.

"Here is your Kunai back, proctor."

"Thank you grass ninja, but, if you don't wanna die, I wouldn't sneak up on me again."  
"I'm sorry, I just also get excited when I see red blood." The two shinobi smiled, Malkeru thought it was the creepiest thing he had ever seen and shuddered.

"Looks like we have a lot of bloodthirsty ones this time around!" Anko just kept on smiling "This should be fun." She pulled a pile of papers out. "Now before we start I have to hand out these waivers."

"Waivers? For what?" a random ninja behind Malkeru asked.

"Glad you asked. There will be deaths in this exam, and if you don't sign these well...it will be all my responsibility." Anko laughed and laughed

'This bitch is seriously crazy.' Malkeru was actually getting frightened by her.

"I'm going to explain the second test and then each of you will have to decide whether or not to sign that form. Simply put, you will attempt the ultimate survival test. First, let me explain the area in which it will take place. Around pratice area fourty-four are fourty-four locked gates. Inside is a forest, river, and a tower in the center. From the gates to the tower is about 10km. During this test you will be asked to complete a certain test. Using your many weapons and jutsu you will compete in a no rules scroll battle. You will be fighting for these scrolls labeled Heaven and Earth. There are twenty-six teams here so half of you will be getting the heaven, and half will be getting earth. That means at minimum only thirteen of you will move on. To pass this test, simply bring one of each scroll to the tower, simple huh?" Anko's smiled kept getting bigger and bigger.

'Good,' Malkeru began cracking his knuckles 'With Sharingan we'll be just fine in a fighting test.'

"But, there is a time limit. This second test will last One-hundred-twenty hours, so exactly five days."

"What about dinner and food!?" Choji was freaking out.

"The forest is full of food. Kill something and cook it. As the days go on, the distance to the goal will become farther, and the time to rest will become shorter. Not to mention the area is crawling with enemies so you won't get much sleep. Now for the rules, exciting huh! First, those who do not make it to the tower in the five days instantly fail. Second, those who lose a teammate or those who have a teammate killed instantly fail. As a general rule of thumb, there is no quitting in the middle, you will be in the forest for five days. Finally, you must not look inside the scroll until you make it into the tower. A chunin will be asked to hand classified information. This is to test your trust-worthiness. That's it for the explanation. Exchange your forms for your scroll, then choose a gate and get ready. Malkeru instantly signed his form, he wasn't backing out now.

"M-M-Mal?" Hinata was behind him, she looked nervous.

"Ya Hinata?"

"Do...do you think I should take this test." Hinata wasn't red like usualy she was just scared, which surprised Malkeru. She was always nervous, but never scared. He smiled at his kunoichi teammate

"Don't worry Hinata, no matter what happens I'll protect you. I don't let my comrades die." Hinata signed her paper after that, Kiba had already signed and was heading towards the booth, waiting for his teammates. They were given a Heaven scroll and sent away. Malkeru decided to choose gate sixteen, no idea why, it just seemed right.

"Alright guys, survival is the specialty of the Inuzuka clan! We got this in the bag! Just don't go soft on us Hinata!" Kiba was amped, even Akamaru gave a bark

"H-hai!" Hinata seemed more ready than usual.

"Alright guys," Malkeru stepped closer to the gate "With our strengths, we should aim for Choji, Shikamaru and Ino first. Shikamaru is lazy, Choji's attacks are all slow, and Ino is...she's Ino."

"Why not Naruto's squad?" Kiba asked

"Well, for one, they were my teammates. They know how I fight. Secondly, Naruto may be stupid, but he's very strong, Sasuke is as well. Sakura is a wild card, she may not be as strong as Sasuke and Naruto, but she has a monstrous punch." Malkeru rubbed the back of his head, phantom pain coming back.

"You three, the gate is going to open in thirty second" The proctor watching their gate said.

'Alright, you can do this.' Malkeru dug his feet into the ground, ready to sprint.

_'20'_

His eyes turned into a scowl as his heart raced

_'5'_

He thought his heart was going to burst through his chest

_'3...2...1..BEGIN!'_

Squad eight charged through the gates, heading into the woods as soon as possible. Malkeru headed into the trees and Kiba and Hinata followed, after a few meters Malkeru held out a hand for them to stop.

"Hinata."

"Right!" Hinata made the ram sign and focused her chakra into her eyes. "Byukugan!" Malkeru and Kiba watched her back as she scanned the area for enemies. The byukugan allowed her to see much farther than the average human, even kilometers into the distance. The only drawback was that she couldn't watch her back while she did it, not with her level of training at least. She snapped back. "I found someone, Two-hundred meters west.

"Kiba take the left, Hinata right with me. Akamaru take their south. We're gonna try and flank them." The three jumped and prepared to strike, Malkeru could see his prey, activating Sharingan he landed on a branch to the left of them. Hinata landed next to them. He had a clear line of sight to Kiba and started making sign language to him.

"Mal," Hinata whispered "I've never seen hand movements like that."

"It's an Inuzuka code, we don't teach it to anyone outside."

"Well, what did you say?"

"I said leave it to me. I'm going to try a jutsu I saw Kakashi use." 'Focus Malkeru, make the signs and focus your chakra..you've been able to do this in practice, this is no different..' Malkeru took a deep breath. 'Ox, spread fingers, rabbit, spread fingers, monkey. Spread fingers, now concentrate your Chakra!' Malkeru imitated his sensei grabbing his wrist and facing his other palm to the ground. Then he heard it, the crackling of his chakra being turned into lightning.

"What! What is that!?" Hinata said as quietly as should could. Malkeru just smiled, his face illimuniated by the blue light of his jutsu

"Watch this." In a flash, Malkeru was gone. "RAIKIRI!" he screamed, piercing one of the genin below them. He made sure to miss the heart, but leave him damaged enough he wouldn't be able to fight. Quickly Malkeru made more handsigns, "Katon: Gōkakyū no Jutsu!" Malkeru launched a giant fireball at the remaining two genin, driving them into Hinata and Kiba separately. Hinata and Kiba dispatched of their enemies quickly enough, both enemies falling to the ground. "Easy enough." Malkeru said, panting slightly.

"The hell was that!"Kiba jumped down from his branch. "You stabbed that kid in the chest!"

"No, I stabbed him to the left of the chest. He'll live, he just won't be able to use his left arm until he gets that hole fixed."

"Mal, that was an impressive jutsu.." Hinata was trying to keep the two boys from fighting.

"Hn? Thanks, it was Kakashi's. I saw him use it on our B rank mission."

"Wait, you copied a jutsu like that after seeing it once?" Kiba couldn't seem to understand. Malkeru's only response was to point at the two tomoe eye he now possessed.

"Hinata, check your guys, Kiba, check yours. We gotta find that scroll." Malkeru knelt over the man he stabbed with Raikiri, he seemed to still be concious.

"Y-y-you..that jutsu..what was it?"

"Shh, save your strength, I didn't stab you that deep. Just enough to immobilize the chakra networks in your left arm and disable movement in it. Here." Malkeru began to bandage the wound. "There's no point in you dying over this exam. You did well to pass the first test."

"Why...why help me?"

"I'm a shinobi, not a murderer. Like I said, there is no reason for you to die. All we want is your scroll."

"I see..thank you.." The man passed out from loss of blood at that point but Malkeru had staunched the bleeding and forced some water down his throat, he would be fine. Kiba patted Malkeru on the shoulder.

"They have a heaven scroll, just like us. Good thing you didn't kill that man, would have been for nothing."

"Damn..I was hoping to end it here." Malkeru scratched his head "Alright, Hinata, keep watch. Kiba, help me drag them under that tree over there."

"Huh, why would we do that?" Kiba asked, helping his brother drag the stabbed man.

"Because Kiba, there are monsters competing in the chunin exam who will kill these guys just to get them out of the way, not to mention the creatures. Quit complaining and help me." Malkeru and Kiba got all the shinobi under the cover of a tree and tapped Hinata to let her to know to end the Byukugan. "Alright, what now guys? Try to attack another team?"

"Why not? You can take them out with that Raikiri of yours right?" Kiba said knocking his brother on the back.

"Er..no..I can't."

"What?"

"Well, Raikiri uses a lot of chakra, I can only use it once a day otherwise I risk putting myself in risk of going unconscious."

"I figured a jutsu like that had some stupid drawback. So what do you think we should do?" Malkeru was about to speak when he was interrupted.

"I-I have an idea.." Hinata shocked both of the Inuzuka boys, she had never actually been one to plan anything.

"Go on Hinata." Malkeru said, giving her a genuine smile.

"Well, everyone has to head to the tower, right? Why not just set up camp there and intercept them? If they're heading to the tower they should have both scrolls."

"That's..that's actually a really good idea Hinata, they'll also be weakened from their fights." Malkeru drew out a kunai and started drawing in the dirt.

"What are you doing?" Kiba bent down to inspect his brother's drawing.

"Drawing a map of the forest..I saw it with my Sharingan and now I can't unsee it." Malkeru continued for a good two minutes before stopping. "Here." he pointed to an area where the river intersected with the tower and drew a two kilometer radius around it. "We'll set up camp there and using Kiba's smell and Hinata's Byukugan we'll trap anyone in that radius. Agreed?" Everyone nodded and the ninja took off. The trip was quiet as they didn't want to alert anyone to their movements. By the time they reached "camp" it was already night time.

"Good! We're here let's make a fire a-" Kiba was interrupted by Malkeru.

"No fire, fire makes smoke and light. We don't want them to know were here."

"How are we suppose to cook food then?"

"Kiba..we're Inuzuka, don't you remember our survival training? We can create heat with our chakra. Tonight may be a bit cold, but, so be it. At least it's summer." Malkeru started to undress and Hinata got a red never before seen on the color scale. Malkeru noticed and quickly put his pants back on. "OH! Hinata I forgot, I was just going to catch some fish and I didn't want my clothes wet..I'll go undress over there."

"Hahaha, baka" Kiba laughed. Malkeru returned fourty minutes later with five fish strung over his arm.

"Hinata, can you do anything with this salmon?"

"Hai! I can make a nice stew if you guys want?"

"Ya!" Kiba loved stew more than anything else. Malkeru cut one of the fish in half and started to fillet it. He noticed everyone looking at him.

"For Akamaru..I didn't think he should be eating stew.." The stew Hinata made was delicious given what she had to work with. With their bellies full, Malkeru volunteered to take the first watch. He ended up just watching all night. He was good with no sleep, he always had been. The night was uneventful, no one attacked and Malkeru couldn't feel any chakras nearby. He woke them both up at six am. "Let's go hunting." Kiba smiled and even Hinata got a small grin.

"Byukugan!" Hinata went into her blank stare again and Malkeru and Kiba waited. "There! 600M north. One shinobi."

"Just one?" That worried Malkeru, but, he could always be used as a hostage so they headed out. They decided to flank again, it was just one ninja after all. This time Kiba attacked.

"Man beast clone!" Kiba's attack hit dead on, there was no way the shinobi was recovering.

"Good job Kiba." Malkeru said landing next to his brother.

"Ya kiba! Nice move!" Hinata seemed happy for once, and Malkeru enjoyed that. The shinobi they jumped wore the same garb as Kabuto except in black, which Malkeru found weird. His hair was shoulder length, drawn back in a ponytail and it was as yellow as Naruto's. Malkeru searched him and found both a heaven and earth scroll on him, good.

"Well, I guess we can leave him here. He should wake up in fifteen minutes. Let's g-"

"Or, I could wake up right now." Malkeru turned and the shinobi was up, standing as if nothing had happened. "Did you brats think such a weak attack would work against me!" The genin moved with incredible speed, punching Kiba and knocking him back into a tree. Kiba hit the ground and didn't move

"KIBA!" Malkeru rushed to help his brother but was stopped by the blonde genin moving in front of him.

"No, I'm your enemy for now and if you want to treat him, you'll have to beat me."

"Fine! If you have a death wish so be it!" Malkeru activated his Sharingan and struck at the man. The blonde had no problem blocking all of Malkeru's attacks, forcing him to jump back. "Katon: Hōsenka no Jutsu!" (Fire style! Phoenix Sage Fire Technique!) Malkeru screamed as he weaved his hand signs, sending multiple fire balls towards the man as he jumped back, each fire ball more powerful than the last. Only one managed to hit him.

"Hehe, good try kid. I like you! What's your name"

"Malkeru Inuzuka! Yours? And where's your squad?" Malkeru was starting to worry about his ability against this ninja.

"Oh, my clan doesn't matter, but, my name is Sonji. Pleased to meet you. As for my squad simple really. They're dead. Now, I hope you know I am going to need my scrolls back."

"Over my dead body!" Malkeru looked back at Hinata "Hinata, stay out of this one. I don't want to see you get hurt. If he's managed to survive this long without his squad, he must be powerful."

"Oh, that's cute. You care for this girl? Well in that case.." Sonji disappeared, reappearing behind Hinata, slashing her across the cheek with a kunai.

"Hinata!" Malkeru body flickered, grabbing Hinata and jumping back. She was stunned, paralyzed even.

"Oh, ya, right, sorry about her not being able to move now. All of my weapons are coated in a poison that immobilizes the one afflicted." Sonji took another look at Hinata before raising his kunai closer to his own face. "That girl..her eyes..she has the Byukugan, no? Well then, this should be fun!" Sonji licked his kunai, cleaning Hinata's blood off of it. His face started to contract and stretch, his eyes became black. Malkeru watched with intent.

'What the fuck is going on?!' Sonji's eyes cleared, revealing the same pale gray eyes Hinata had. "W-w-what?!" Sonji just laughed.

"Like that brat, I possess a kekkai genkai. A special blood line ability passed through my family. If I ingest the blood of anyone with a special bloodline ability it allows me to copy all their jutsu, even dojutsu (eye techniques) such as Byukugan."  
To prove his point veins protruded from the side of Sonji's head. Feeding chakra into it. His eyes became the same as Hinata's when she activated her Byukugan.

"You bastard..!" Malkeru clenched his fist "I'll kill you for hurting her." He raised himself, going into a taijutsu stance.

"Of course you will." Sonji smiled before diving into it. He began imitating Hinata's gentle fist style, which Malkeru dodged easily. He had been training against this fighting for months.

"Little slow aren't we?!" Malkeru taunted the man, delivering a powerful jab to his jaw, causing him to stagger back.

"Eh! You brat! How are you do- your eyes!" Malkeru looked at the Sonji not dropping his guard.

"What about them?" Malkeru said jumping back into the fight. He managed to land a knee to the man's abdomen while dodging in between his attacks.

"If you're an Inuzuka, why do you have the eyes of a Uchiha!"

"Who knows!" Malkeru tripped the man with a sweep of his feet. Focusing chakra in his legs, he jumped high in the air, weaving hand signs as he flew. "Katon: Gōkakyū no Jutsu!" Malkeru's fireball hit his target dead on. 'No way he survived that' Malkeru thought as he landed. Malkeru was disappointed to find that the man had replaced himself with a log.

"Behind you!" Malkeru managed to dodge the kunai strike, but barely. Sonji still drew blood. Panting, Malkeru taunted the man.

"Go ahead and eat my blood! I don't have the kekkai genkai of the Uchiha. Just the eyes, like my sensei Kakashi."

"Hmm, if that's true that's disappointing. But, why are you able to move?"

"Oh, my mom is crazy and has been poisoning me since I was four. I'm immune to everything but the most powerful poisons."

"A mother did that to her child? That's...you're right. She is crazy. Oh well, I'll just kill you with your own jutsu!" Sonji ate his blood, and closed his eyes. Malkeru saw nothing happening and laughed.

"See? I told you. I'm not an Uch-" Malkeru froze. Sonji had opened his eyes to reveal the two tomoe eyes he had.

"Not an Uchiha, eh?"

"That's no..but.." Sonji took this chance to strike knocking Malkeru into the tree behind him.

"Oh, I like this one. It not only raises your awareness, but also your speed and strength as well. I'm going to have to drain you dry aren't I? But first.." Sonji picked up Hinata.

"NO! PLEASE! Take me just leave them be!" Malkeru raised himself slowly, he had taken a beating and although he could resist the poison, it was still slowing him. Sonji just laughed at his pleas.

"You hit me. No one ever hits me, I'll make you pay with this girl first, then the stupid boy." Sonji drew his shuriken, drawing it across Hinata's chest. Blood erupted from her wound.

"HINATA!" Something inside Malkeru snapped, he closed his eyes, they were burning. Tears streamed his face.

"Oh, is the big hero crying now? How sad. One more slash should finish the girl." Sonji brought his Kunai down again, but this time, it didn't connect with Hinata, Malkeru was in the way, blocking the Kunai with his palm. The metal dug into the flesh of his hands.

"No more...you'll hurt her no more.."

'How?! He moved so fast even these eyes couldn't keep up!' Malkeru looked into his eyes and Sonji saw it. They were different. The two tomoe he had possessed before had split. There were now three, forming a triangular pattern around central pupil. Malkeru kicked the man in the chest sending him flying back. Malkeru grabbed Hinata and began to weave handsigns. When Sonji opened his eyes, Malkeru was gone. "Where is he?!"

"Where you would never look!" A hand emerged from the ground and pulled Sonji down to his knees. "Doton: Shinjū Zanshu no Jutsu!" (Earth style! Headhunter technique!) Malkeru rose from the ground in front of Sonji. "This jutsu usually brings the victim down to their neck. But, that just gives me a smaller target for this jutsu, and I'm not very good with it yet. Malkeru began weaving signs again his eyes never leaving Sonji. His hands began to crackle again, electricity forming in them. "RAIKIRI!" Malkeru drove his hand all the way through the neck of Sonji, killing him instantly.


	10. Chapter 10 - The Prelims!

Kiba awoke, groaning as he rose.

"What the hell happened here..Mal are you okay." Malkeru was crying again, he had broken down.

"I...I couldn't save her Kiba..she trusted me..and I couldn't do it." Kiba noticed Hinata laying on the ground, not moving and moved closer to inspect.

"Mal..she's fine..just unconscious. Wearing her haiti-ate on her neck probably saved her life though. It's all scratched up. It must have slowed the blade. This wound is superficial at best."

"She...she's fine?"

"Ya..let's get her to the tower though, the two of us is not good numbers." Malkeru carried Hinata all the way to the tower. They made it to the tower thankfully without running into anyone. Malkeru figured everyone was still in the woods fighting, after all it had only been 32 hours since the test started. They found a bunch of sealed doors, and had no idea what to do.

"So..we pick one?" Malkeru asked his brother, still holding Hinata

"Uh.. I.. I guess so?" Kiba said, pushing a door open. The seal broke easily and Malkeru carried Hinata in and laid her down. Kiba closed the door behind them.

"So..what now?"  
"I..I don't know Kiba.." Kiba worried about his brother, he was obviously torn up since his fight with that shinobi.

"Mal..you had to kill him..there was no other choice."

"I know...it was my first kill." Kiba understood. He had his first kill a few weeks ago during an escort mission. It stuck with you. Kiba looked around the room, he noticed a plaque on the wall. Squinting, he read it aloud to himself

"Without...heaven..." Malkeru had noticed and looked at his brother.

"It seems to be missing words."

"Do you think it has something to do with the scrolls? We were told not to open them until we got here but..we're here now so should we open them?"

"Not yet Kiba, you remember the rules don't you? All of our teammates have to be active when we pass the second test. Hinata is still paralyzed. It's been thirty-two hours, we still have eighty-eight hours, a little more than three days for her to wake up. Sadly, neither of us have medical experience so we have to hope she can fight this off." So they waited, making Hinata as comfortable as possible. Malkeru took his hoody off, making a pillow for her, and Kiba covered her with his jacket. Malkeru paced for what seemed like eternity, inside the room they had no way of keeping track of time. For all he knew they could have been sitting there for days, or weeks! After what seemed like years Hinata finally coughed, sitting up from her makeshift "bed." "Hinata!" Malkeru grabbed her in a hug before realizing what he was doing and letting go.

"Finally! Now we can open the scrolls! Akamaru!" Akamaru brought the scrolls to his master who tore them open. The room went crazy, wind seemed to be drawing them into the scrolls, making clouds of dust appear over the scrolls.

"Get back!" Malkeru yelled shielding Hinata, "It's a summoning technique!" Malkeru closed his eyes to keep dust from getting into them.

"Yo." A familiar voice said when it all ended.

"K-Kakashi?" Malkeru was looking up at none other than his sense, Kakashi Hatake.

"Ya, I figured if anyone should congratulate you, it should be me. After all, I am the one who sent you with a team you had never worked with before." Kakashi looked down at Hinata. "Is she okay?"

"Ya, she was just paralyzed for a while. She'll be fine." Malkeru had begun packing his things and put his hoody back on. "So what now?"

"Well, you guys are actually the first back..it's only been eighty-six hours amazingly. You still have thirty-four hours left. So head through that hall and wait in the main chamber I guess." Kakashi disappeared after that, leaving the team battered and torn, but alive.

"We did it!" Kiba was jumping up and down, a feat Malkeru didn't think he could manage at this point. "We passed guys!"

"Ya, we did." Malkeru forced a smile 'But at what cost' He thought looking down at Hinata. "Go on ahead and check us in Kiba, I'm going to help Hinata."

"Ya ya, whatever. Don't be too long guys, people will start getting _Ideas_" Kiba laughed as he walked out of the room

"That stupid baka.." Malkeru muttered as he helped Hinata to his feet.

"Mal..can we talk?"

"Hn? What's up Hinata?"

"Back during the fight. You begged him not to hurt me..you even offered yourself up..why did you do that for me?"

"I don't know Hinata." Malkeru paused for a moment as he thought, as he continued walking he said, "You mean a lot to me. I don't know where I would be without you. All I know is I don't want to see you hurt." Hinata blushed again, she always seemed to do that around Malkeru

'He really does care..' Hinata looked up at the boy supporting her weight. "I don't want to see you hurt either, thank you Malkeru."

"Huh? It was really no problem, there's no need to thank me, really." Malkeru helped Hinata into the main room where a medical nin gave her a look over. Malkeru wasn't very impressed by the room. It was basically a tile floor with rafters hanging above, presumably so that one could watch what was happening on the floor below without being hurt. Along wall was a statue of two arms, being brought together by the hands, which were forming the ram hand sign. Along the length of the statue stood many Shinobi, most Malkeru presumed were senseis as he saw both Kakashi Sensei and Iruka Sensei standing there. In the middle of them was the Hokage, which was when Malkeru remember what had happened in the battle with Sonji.

"Hokage, sir. Can we talk for a moment? ...in private?" Malkeru asked, approaching the old man.

"Malkeru, what's wrong?"

"It's about my eyes, sir." The Hokage seemed to react to that and led Malkeru to a side room. In the room was a small table with two chairs.

"Please, sit." The Hokage gestured at one of the tables, and Malkeru did as he was told "So, what do you need we need to discuss about your eyes?"

"How I really got them..and who my parents were." Malkeru gave the Hokage a cold glare without being able to control himself.

"I'm sorry Malkeru, I don't know any of th-"

"DON'T LIE TO ME!" Malkeru slammed his fist on the table. "I KNOW THAT YOU KNOW DAMN WELL WHO I AM!" Malkeru was surrounded by ANBU before he could even react.

"Boys." The Hokage was looking at the ANBU agents with kunai to Malkeru's throat. "Now, Malkeru, how do you figure that?" The ANBU had disappeared and Malkeru could speak freely again.

"The shinobi I fought in the forest..he had an ability. It allowed him to copy the kekkei genkai of anyone's blood he ingested. He did it with Hinata's Byukugan at first, but then..he managed to steal my Sharingan." The Hokage took a drag from his pipe before responding.

"I don't see how this relates to me knowing who your parents really are. So you have the kekkei genkai of the Sharingan? What does that have to do with anything?"

"Third, please...don't make me out to be some stupid kid. When you told me about the mutation I may have, I did some research. It's true, sometimes blood line abilities appear in people outside of the clan it belongs too. But, it never goes farther than the infancy stage, and, they never truly have the blood line limit. Meaning, it's just a jutsu. The man stole my Sharingan with his kekkei genkai, which means I posses the kekkei genkai of the Uchiha..which means.." Malkeru let the last part hang.

"I see..I suppose I can't hide it any longer, can I?" The Hokage took another drag of his pipe. 'These kids get smarter every year, don't they.' The Hokage took another look at Malkeru. "Yes, you are an Uchiha." Malkeru froze. He had hoped he was wrong, he didn't want to be an Uchiha.

"W-who were my parents..." The Hokage just sighed.

"Fuggaku and Mokoto Uchiha.."

"But..those are Sasuke's pare... Sasuke is my brother? But that's not possible we're the same ag..."

"I see it's clicking." The Hokage looked very solemn. "I hope you know you can never tell anyone of this. It's suppose to be a Hokage level secret, you were never suppose to know." Malkeru started to cry, it was too much for him. 'Poor boy..to know his parents gave him up but kept Sasuke..'

"W-w-why did t-they give me u-up?" Malkeru couldn't stop his stuttering. It hurt, he couldn't form his words very well.

"I don't know. Only the fourth and his wife knew that, and well.." The Hokage rose from his chair and embraced the boy. "But, I think we both know Tsume and her family love you more than enough for a family." Malkeru agreed with the Hokage and managed to calm himself.

"Ya..Hokage, sir, I'm sorry I yelled." The Hokage laughed.

"At your age and in your situation, I would have thrown more than words. Now come, I believe your team is waiting for you." The third led the boy back to the room, Malkeru thanked him and headed back to his team.

"What was that about?" Kiba and Hinata were sitting against a wall when Malkeru found them

"Hm? Nothing, just giving our report of what happened." Kiba eyed his brother suspiciously.

'Was Mal lying to me?' Kiba was worried about his brother, his eyes seemed cold and emotionless, not like the usual eyes he had. Hinata had noticed too.

'He seems so cold and distant.. what could have happened during that battle..' Hinata had been in and out of consciousness for most of the fight, the only things he really saw was Malkeru killing Sonji, and his plea for her life. "Mal? Are you al-"

"I'm fine." Malkeru's response was cold, devoid of all emotion, it scared Hinata.

"Clearly you're not Mal, something is up your ass so spit it out." Malkeru hit his brother, sending him flying.

"Mind your damn business Kiba." Kiba was about to retaliate when more Shinobi showed up. Had they been leaf shinobi Kiba would have pounded his brother into oblivion, but they were mist ninja and Kiba had to put up an act that there was no strife between Konoha ninja.

Groups slowly started to pile in as the hours dwindled down, allowing the ragged team eight to catch up on some much needed sleep. When they awoke everyone seemed to be there, Malkeru was even surprised. Sasuke, Sakura, and Naruto had made it through.

"Mal!" Naruto ran over to Malkeru giving him the thumbs up "You did it too, eh?"

"Ya.." Malkeru said, looking straight ahead. Naruto had also noticed Malkeru looked a lot more withdrawn than usual, before he could say anything though Anko began talking

"First about the second test. Congratulations on passing." Everyone seemed to breathe a sigh of relief, glad to be done. "Now, the Hokage would like to discuss the third test, so listen up maggots!"

"Thank you Anko. Before I explain the third test there is something I would like you to know. It concerns the true reason for this exam. Why do we have allianced countries taking the exam together? 'To promote friend among the countries' 'to raise the level of shinobi. I don't want you to be confused about the true meaning, this exam is a replacement for war among the allied countries. If you go back in time, the current allies were enemies. We fought each other over who would rule. In order to prevent wasteful fighting, the stage that these countries chose for battle is these chunin exams.

"Why the hell do we have to do that crap? Isn't this thing for deciding who's a chunin?" Naruto seemed to be outraged by what the Hokage was saying.

"It is true that these exams decide who will become a chunin, but the exam also has another side. One where each countries shinobis risk their lives to protect their lands prestige. Watching this third exam will be leaders and influential individuals from many countries who make up the clients of the shinobi. If the strength of a country is clear, that country will receive more clients. And conversely, if it is seen as week it will lose clients. So, you see, these exams show how much potential power a country has. Before this test begins I will tell you one more thing, this is not just a test..this is a life risking battle with your dreams and your country's prestige on the line." The Hokage paused to take a puff from his pipe. "Now the thir-"

"Actually Hokage, from here on as the referee will you allow me to, Hayate Gekkou, to continue?" A man had appeared in front of the Hokage, kneeling in respect.

"Of course." The Hokage took a step back, allowing the shinobi to step forward.

"Hello everyone, I'm Hayate. Before the third test we have to have a umm...preliminary test."

"A what?" seemed to ring out from everyone in the room.

"Er, well, because it seems the first and second test were too easy this year, we have a bit too many people remaining. As Hokage said earlier, there will be many important people here for this test, and the fights could take a long time. We are limited by time so we must cut your numbers down. So for those who are not feeling well, or those who feel like quitting, come forward now." Hayate waited for someone to step forward. Only Kabuto did. "Anyone else? I forgot to tell you it will be one on one battles to see who gets to move forward. You may raise your hand now based on your own judgment.

'No way I'm backing out now..even if I am weak at this moment.' Malkeru stood firm, eying up the competition. It seemed all the leaf genin had made it, as well as the sand genin. Some other randoms had managed to slip through, but Malkeru payed them no attention.

"Um right..no one else? Fine then, alright, this is a one on one battle as if you were in real conditions. Since we now have exactly 22 entrants, we will conduct 11 matches and umm..the winners advance to the first test. There are basically no rules, the fight continues until one of you dies or is knocked out or admits defeat. If you don't want to die, then I suggest quickly admitting defeat. Since we don't want you dying, I'll jump in and stop things if I feel the match is over. If I say a match is over, it's over. The electronic score board behind me will determine the matches randomly so..let's start." The scoreboard sprung to life, all the names of the entrants randomly flashing up. The first one to stop was some water nin and the second..

"..and Malkeru Inuzuka, please come to center stage, everyone else. To the rafters. Any interfering on the part of an entrant is immediate disqualification." Malkeru headed to center stage, bowing to the water nin when he reached the center.

'I don't know if I can win this one. His water style jutsu are going to counter my fire, and I don't have enough chakra left to manipulate this ground or use Rakiri. Guess I just have to rely on my new Sharingan...'

"I can see the doubt in your eyes, you know you're going to die here, don't you?" The water nin was taunting him.

"Hn." Malkeru closed his eyes, molding whatever extra chakra he could. Hayate stepped in between the challengers, holding up a hand.

"Begin!" he shouted. Malkeru jumped back, activating his Sharingan. He drew two shuriken and whipped them at the water nin, trying to get a gauge on his speed. The nin was barely able to deflect them.

'Good, I win in speed and awareness due to Sharingan. However, I am much more damaged from the second exam.' Malkeru rushed in throwing jabs at the water nin, his speed was really abysmal, Malkeru had managed to land nearly ever single blow against him. 'There's no way he made it to through the second exam with this level of strength, and his cockiness before I don-' out of nowhere, the nins speed increased. He grabbed Malkeru's fist and countered with a blow of his own, knocking Malkeru onto his back. The nin brought his foot up to slam down on Malkeru, but Malkeru managed to roll out of the way, using his arms to flip up to a kneeling position.

"Faster than you expected, huh? That's my ability, I use my chakra to increase my speed faster than my opponents. I let you attack me to see how fast you really were, and now that I know..it's over." The nin seemed to teleport behind Malkeru, thanks to his Sharingan he was able to block, but the blow still hurt. Malkeru was sure he had bruised the muscles in his lower arm.

'DAMNIT! WHAT THE HELL CAN I DO?' Malkeru didn't have time to react, he was hit in the stomach, causing him to cough up blood.

"DAMNIT MAL MOVE!" Kiba was shouting at him from the rafters "IF YOU'RE AN INUZUKA THEN PROVE IT DAMNIT AND MAUL HIM!" Malkeru kept getting hit, he just couldn't keep up with his torn body.

'I'm trying you bastard..' Malkeru dragged himself off the ground, staggering to his feet.

"Oh, you still have some fight in you? Good. I would hate for this to end so soon." Malkeru was hit by another barrage of blows, the worst part was he could see all of them coming before they did.

'I guess this is the curse of the Sharingan. I can see it coming but I can't stop it.' Malkeru tried to raise himself again, but his body felt cold and weak.

"MAL! YOU CAN DO IT!" It wasn't Kiba yelling this time, it was Hinata "BELIEVE IN YOURSELF LIKE YOU BELIEVE IN ME YOU BAKA!"

'She's right..I've given up..I can do this..' Malkeru managed to raise himself again, smiling "I am an Inuzuka of the hidden leaf village..I will never give up.." Malkeru started making handsigns.

"Nope!" The nin charged at him, throwing a punch. Malkeru drew a kunai and stuck it through the mans fist, blood spurting at him. Malkeru smiled.

"My sensei taught me something our first day of training, 'a shinobi must be able to look underneath the underneath'. I am not the fastest at handsigns, but, didn't you think it was weird that I was mixing fire signs with lightning signs?" Malkeru flipped over the shinobi something in his hands. When Malkeru pulled his arm back, the shinobis hand followed. Malkeru pulled down forcing the shinobi's hand and body down. Malkeru kicked the ninja under the chin, knocking his head back. Malkeru made a flourish of movements with his hand, almost making a circular movement with them, causing the shinobi's body to become rigid and stiff.

"What is this? Genjutsu?" Malkeru laughed.

"Nope. Just simple ninja wire." The nin looked down and could see the light glinting off the the metal wire.

"But wh- the kunai?"

"So, you saw underneath the underneath, eh? You were way too cocky about beating me, you'd thrown caution to the wind thinking my body was broken. After I stabbed you, I pumped chakra though my body, allowing me to move at high speeds shortly. By constantly keeping your attention focused on me with my flashy movements, I kept you from noticing the thin ninja wire attached to the kunai." Malkeru knelt over the shinobi, putting a knee on his chest. "Now, are you willing to die for this exam?" Malkeru had drawn a kunai to the nins throat.

"No..I yield." Hayate stepped onto the field.

"Umm..alright then.. Malkeru Inuzuka is the winner." Malkeru staggered, falling to a knee.

"It's a good thing you said that, because, I'm out of chakra. My body can no longer move." Malkeru laughed as medical nin came out to the field. Kakashi body flickered to his student.

"That was certainly an interesting move Mal. How did you come up with that?" Malkeru was being laid on a cot, unable to walk himself.

"Heh, I have no idea. It just came to me."

"Well, sleep now. You've earned it, you made it."


	11. Chapter 11 - Finding a Sensei!

Malkeru's sleep was restless, he awoke several time, getting glimpses of his surroundings. Several people came to visit him in the hospital. Kiba, Hinata, Hana, Tsume, Kakashi and Naruto had even stopped by. He was surprised by who he woke up to though.

"Unnn" Malkeru opened his eyes, the fog of painkillers lifting from his eyes. He looked to his left and saw a familiar pink haired kunoichi peeling an apple, she didn't seem to notice he'd awoken and began slicing it. "S...Sakura?" He seemed to scare her, as she jumped when he spoke

"Oh! Mal! You're awake." She offered him the cut up apple. "I thought you might be hungry when you awoke, you haven't eaten any real food in almost two days." Malkeru's head hurt, his body was sore, he felt like he'd been hit by raikiri.

"How long have I been out?"

"About two days. Kakashi asked me to watch out for you today, I'm suppose to inform you of the rules of the third test." Sakura first told Malkeru about the rest of the second test. About Hinata was able to keep up with Neji even though she lost, about how Kiba lost to Naruto because of a fart, of all things. She told him about Sasuke's fight, and even about Lee. "Lee took the worst damage of all of us. The doctor's said he will never be a ninja again." That made Malkeru shudder. He had liked Lee, he always had a positive attitude.

"What about you?"

"Oh, I got paired with Ino and we knocked each other out at the same time. We both lost. Shikamaru ended up beating some shinobi I'd never met, Tenten lost to Temari, and Choji lost to a sound ninja." Malkeru ate his apple as he thought about what she said

'No weaklings made it, so my opponent will be really strong.'

"But, onto to the third test. Basically, it's an anything goes match that will be held twenty-eight days from now. It's the same as the preliminary matches, just with a much larger stage and much bigger audience."

"Alright then." Malkeru said, getting out of bed. "I have no time to spare then." Malkeru stumbled out of the hospital bed, trying to get dressed. Sakura tried to stop him, but soon realized it was pointless. He was determined. "Sorry Sakura, you should leave so I can get dressed. I don't have time to waste not be training." Malkeru snuck out the window, he really didn't want one of the jonin medical nin stopping him from leaving. He hopped from rooftop to rooftop, although his body was sore, he could move just fine.

'Who the hell is gonna train me?!' Malkeru didn't know of anyone who could. He couldn't train with an Inuzuka, all they could teach him is the man beast techniques. Kakashi was missing..maybe..Kurenai? It was his best option, so he headed for the training grounds where team eight usually practiced. When he arrived there he was disappointed to find no one was there. 'Damnit! I don't have time to waste!' Malkeru ran back into town, when he noticed Shino. "Shino!" Shino stopped and looked at the shinobi who had landed in front of him.

"You're the one who took my spot."

"Ya..I am..look Shin-"

"I hate it when people take my spot"

'This guy seriously creeps me out.' Malkeru let out a sigh "Look Shino, I don't have time to argue..do you know where Kurenai is?"

"Yes..she took our team to the hot springs to celebrate Kiba and Hinata making it to the second round."

"Why didn't you go?"

"I didn't make it to the second round, and my bugs don't like the water.."

"Right.." Malkeru took off, the hot springs were about fifteen minutes away, ten if he ran full bore. He got to the hot springs out of breath, and that was when he remembered, he wasn't a girl. He couldn't go into the hot springs to ask Kurenai if she would train him. Sighing he took a seat..wishing they would come out sooner rather than later.

"Whaaa...whoaaa...whaaaa!" Malkeru heard a splash and went to investigate. He saw Naruto climbing out of the river that led to the hot springs, he was completely nude except for his boxers.

"Uhm, am I interrupting something?" Malkeru said, averting his eyes from Naruto.

"Mal! You're better? Good!" Naruto got back up and smiled at Mal, his usual goofy smile.

"Ya..umm, Naruto..why are you nearly naked in the hot springs?"

"Oh, Ebisu sensei is teaching me to walk on water." Malkeru noticed the ninja behind Naruto finally. He wore black glasses and a bandanna tied like Ibiki's.

"Yes, I am. Now get back to it Naruto. Remember, you have to change the flow of chakra in your feet to keep up with the changing flow of the water."

"I know! It's not as ea-" Malkeru was standing on the water, floating as if he'd been doing it his entire life.

"Huh...cool. Thanks Ebisu."

"See Naruto? It's easy! That boy did it on his first try." Malkeru glared at the sensei.

"You're not really being fair to Naruto." Malkeru activated his Sharingan. "My chakra control is only so good because of my eyes. He has never had anyone to teach him, so, teach him 'sensei'."

"You're an Uchiha?!" Malkeru smiled.

"Nope, Inuzuka." Malkeru walked away at that point leaving Ebisu confused and Naruto laughing at him

"He got you closet pervert ahahaha" Malkeru took his seat outside of the woman's hot spring again and waited, meditating. It was near dark before Malkeru saw anyone leaving the hot springs. Hinata was the first one out.

"M-M-M-Mal?! What are you doing here? This is the woman's hot spring"

"I know that Hinata. I wasn't taking a peek inside or anything, I need to talk to Kurenai."

"Oh, well, she'll be out soon." Hinata started playing with her fingers "Can um..can I sit with you?"

"Huh? Of course Hinata." Hinata sat next to Malkeru. 'Why does she always get red when she sits next to me..'

"Y-y-you did really well in y-your m-match Mal."

"Hinata..why are you stuttering again?"

"I-I-I don't k-know. I-I'm just proud of you." Hinata smiled, a very innocent, cute smile.

"Heh, thanks Hinata. I was only able to do it because of you."

"W-w-what do you m-mean?"

"You were right. I tell you all the time you need to believe in yourself more, and I couldn't do it. I was a hypocrite, and I never should have been. So, thank you Hinata. Hinata, you're really red..are you sick?"

"N-n-no! I just m-must still be w-warm from the h-hot s-springs! Ya...t-that.."

"Oh, alright then." Malkeru then saw Kurenai coming out. "Kurenai sensei!" Malkeru shot up, bowing in respect to the Kunoichi.

"Oh..Mal, I was going to invite you, but Kiba said you were still asleep. I wanted to thank you personally. Hinata told me all about your fight in the forest of death. You saved them."

"Heh," Malkeru started scratching the back of his head. "It was no big deal. They're my friends, I'd do anything for them!" Malkeru then remembered the third test. "But, Kurenai sensei, there's a reason I came here looking for you. I need your help.."

"Well, don't beat around the bush. What do you need?"

"I need someone to train me for my third test, badly."

"What about Tsume? Or Kakashi?"

"Mom offered, but all she can teach me is man beast combos, which I can't learn without a dog companion that I kinda don't have. And Kakashi is no where to be seen. I figured since you're a genjutsu master and I severely lack in that field and with my Sharingan.."

"You have Sharingan?!" Malkeru was confused at Kurenai's confusion. He thought everyone in the village knew, or that Kiba would have told her.

"Uh, ya, for about three months now."

"Can I see it?"

"Sure." Malkeru closed his eyes, opening them to reveal his three tomoe eye.

"From the little I know about the Sharingan, this seems to be the fully matured form of it, no?" Malkeru got an ashamed look on his face.

"Honestly...you probably know more about the Sharingan than I do. After the Uchiha massacre they stopped teaching us the history of the clan. All I know is that when I saw Kiba and Hinata in danger, my eyes hurt and apparently one of my tomoe split into two."

"Hmm.." Kurenai was deep in thought, leaving Malkeru and Hinata waiting. "This is perfect. The Sharingan is the perfect eye for genjutsu." Malkeru smiled

"Does this mean you'll teach me?!"

"Yes." Kurenai began to walk away. "Meet me at practice field eight tomorrow at six am." Malkeru began to cheer. He was going to learn a new technique!

"Wait..did...did she say six am?" Hinata laughed as Malkeru's mood instantly became depressed.

"Don't worry Mal, I'll train with you! I want to become strong too, and you're kinda taking our sensei.."

"I guess I am, alright..see you at six!" Malkeru ran off, eager to get home. His eagerness was cut short when he had to dodge a frying pan as soon as he walked through the door.

"YOU RAN FROM THE HOSPITAL! ARE YOU INSANE?"

'Oh good..Mom knows I left early..' Malkeru dodged a fist this time "Mom! Calm down! If I don't need to be in the hospital I will after you hit me!" Tsume seemed to calm down after that.

"You're a fool Mal, what's so important you had to leave early?"

"Didn't Kiba tell you? I made it into the third test..I only have twenty-eight more days to train and I had to find a sensei.."

"Oh right..your third test..sorry son, I guess I overreacted. Who did you end up finding." Malkeru started scavenging through the kitchen and found some rice cakes and began digging in. He hadn't eat real food besides the apple since the forest of death.

"Kurenai is going to teach me genjutsu. She said my Sharingan can improve it somehow."

"Well, you better head to bed then. Kurenai is as crazy as I am!" Tsume laughed as her son walked upstairs, muttering something about how he hopes his future wife is sane.


	12. Chapter 12 - Genjutsu!

Six am came too soon and Malkeru dragged himself through his house getting ready, he barely made it to the training field on time. Kurenai and Hinata were already waiting for him, doing some light sparring.

"One more minute and you would have been late." Malkeru yawned.

"Ya, I know. I haven't been getting good sleep the past few days and today came really quickly...forgive me sensei!"  
"Ya, ya. What do you know about genjutsu?" Hinata took a seat and watched all this unfold.

"Uhm, just the basics really. Genjutsu are techniques that are employed in the same fashion as ninjutsu, requiring chakra and hand seals. However, the primary difference between the two is that the effects of genjutsu are illusory; instead of attacking the victim's body, like taijutsu or ninjutsu, genjutsu techniques manipulate the flow of chakra in the victim's brain, thus causing a disruption in their senses. Usually the users creates fake pain or trauma in the brain, as the body believes it's real. However, there have been cases of pleasant genjutsu." Kurenai smiled.

"Correct. You know more than I thought you would, this makes my job much easier." Kurenai made a few hand signs and looked at Malkeru again. "Do you feel any difference?" Malkeru stared at her, blinking.

"Uh, no, shoul-" Malkeru felt a hand on his back, but when he looked behind him, nothing was there. "I'm in a genjutsu right now, aren't I?"

"Correct. Now imagine that hand was a kunai, you'd be dead. Kai!" Kurenai released the jutsu, appearing behind Malkeru. "You're lucky to have me training with you, I was friends with Itachi for a while before he..well before things changed. Itachi was the true master of genjutsu, never even needing his hands."

"Not needing his hands? How is that possible?" Hinata had spoken up from her perch on the training post. Kurenai pointed at Malkeru.

"By using the Sharingan."

"How does the Sharingan affect genjutsu?" Malkeru asked

"Quite simply, all the Sharingan is, is genjutsu. Your ability to copy your enemy's movements, to perceive them before even they do, it's basically genjutsu."

"What? I'm sorry Kurenai, I don't quite get it."

"Understandable, I didn't at first either. They way Itachi explained it to me, was that the sharingan put the user under a form of hypnosis. This hypnosis allows the Sharingan user to suggest movements to them. When this gets advanced enough, you can even control it, telling them what to do. Kakashi is the only one I know who is capable of it, and only on very weak minded opponents."

"So..basically, I've been doing genjutsu this whole time?"

"Yes and no. All the Sharingan allows you to do is see inside of your enemies mind, when you truly understand genjutsu you can use this link to employ genjutsu without even using hand signs or deception."

"So..how are we going to do this?"

"You're going to fight me, of course." Malkeru was confused.

"Fight? Sensei, I don't see how a battle will help me learn genjutsu."

"Well, if you want, I could teach you some basic genjutsu, that would be no problem. But, if you want an ability that no one else in that competition will have, listen to what I tell you. Your eyes are probably your greatest asset in this competition. Besides for a few shinobi in the leaf, no one knows you have them. You're an Inuzuka after all, why would they believe for a second you possess the kekkei genkei of the Uchiha? While fighting me, I am going to use genjutsu on you. The quicker you can realize what I've done, the quicker you can release yourself. When you've become completely immune to genjutsu, we'll move to the next step." A smile crept to Malkeru's face.

"Alright then, SHARINGAN!" Malkeru charged in, throwing a jab at Kurenai. As a jounin, nothing Malkeru did against her really mattered, she dodged it all. Malkeru kept fighting as Hinata and Kurenai watched him from the sidelines.

"So..when do you think he's going to realize he was never released from your genjutsu?" Hinata laughed at her friend.

"Probably around noon." Kurenai wasn't half wrong, Malkeru released around 11:52am and released himself. "What made you realize?"

"I had suspicions about 25 minutes ago when you still hadn't tired out. I confirmed it when I used Raikiri four times without dying."

"Good but..don't risk your life to confirm it. What if it hadn't been a genjutsu?"

"Well, then I would have gotten incredibly tired after the first. I was in no danger."

"Smart. Alright, break for lunch. I'll be back in twenty minutes to continue." Malkeru and Hinata ate together and talked nearly the whole twenty minutes. Apparently Hinata and Kurenai would spar while Malkeru was trapped in the genjutsu. The training continued for around two weeks, Malkeru slowly getting better and better. He was able to realize her genjutsu nearly immediately. Once he was at this step, he would spend half of his day working genjutsu with Kurenai, and the other half working Taijutsu and Ninjutsu with Kiba, Hinata, and Shino. Sometimes at the same time, the three on one's were to train Malkeru's perception and power with his Sharingan, and he quite enjoyed them. July twenty-third, however was different. Malkeru arrived at the training ground at the usual time, instead of just Hinata and Kurenai, Kiba was there too.

"Hey bro, remember what today is?" Malkeru had completely forgotten, being so entranced with his training. He sighed.

"It's my birthday."

"That's right!" Hinata ran up and gave Malkeru a hug "Happy Birthday Mal!" She didn't even blush this time, it surprised Malkeru a lot.

"T-t-thank you Hinata." Kiba laughed at his brother.

"Now look who's stuttering." Malkeru shot him daggers, which just made him laugh harder. This time Kurenai spoke.

"You're taking today off, absolutely no training. Your muscles need to relax anyway. You've been pushing your body hard." She pulled a parcel from her leg pouch. "Although you weren't assigned to me, I consider you one of my students, so, here." Malkeru took the gift, bowing to his sensei.

"Thank you Kurenai sensei."

"Well, don't just stand there, open it." Malkeru tore at the parcel, smiling when he opened it. "It's a wristband. Just like the one Kiba has."

"I give these to all my students, and anyone I consider a friend. Congratulations, you're an honorary member of team eight."

"Thank you. So much, this means a lot." Hinata was next.

"I didn't really know what to get you, but I finally decided on this. I hope you enjoy it." She gave Malkeru a innocent smile. Malkeru laughed when he opened it. It was a hand made sweatshirt, identical to the one he lost when fighting Haku. "I know how much you loved that sweatshirt, so, I made one to replace it." Malkeru pulled Hinata in for another hug.

"Thank you Hinata, I love it."

"Alright, knock it off you two love birds, here's mine." Kiba handed his brother a parcel as well. He had gotten Malkeru a new Kunai pouch, as his had been damaged in the battle with Haku, and Malkeru had never had a chance to pick another one. He pulled Kiba in for a hug as well.

"Thanks bro, you're the best."

"Ugh, get off me you baka!" Malkeru laughed and released his brother.

"Alright you three, have fun. Be here tomorrow same time to begin the next step." Kurenai disappeared in a puff of smoke, much like Kakashi usually did.

"So bro, what do you wanna do for your birthday?" Malkeru didn't really know, all he knew was he wanted to spend it with the people he had around him.

"Well, first. I'm hungry. Let's get some breakfast, Kiba's treat!" Malkeru raced off towards town, Hinata and Kiba in tow. Malkeru's birthday was great, Kiba actually treated them to breakfast, much to Malkeru's surprise. They ran into Sakura and she gave Malkeru a handmade patch of the Inuzuka clan's symbol for one of his sweatshirts. Malkeru, Hinata and Kiba headed back to the Inuzuka compound and hung out there for the rest of the day. Hana returned home and cooked a large lunch for all of them, Tsume was out on a mission, so she would have to wait to celebrate her son's birthday. Although Kurenai said no training, Malkeru allowed Hinata to practice her Byukugan on him. When day gave way into night Malkeru and Hinata headed out, Kiba decided to stay back and look after Akamaru, he had gotten pretty sick lately. Malkeru and Hinata went into town, looking for something to do.

"Hey Hinata, wanna go to the Hokage statues?"

"What do you mean?"

"Well, sometimes, I like to just watch the stars and the best place to do that is from the head of the fourth Hokage." Malkeru smiled, he had never told anyone about him doing this before. He wasn't sure if it was allowed or not to be honest. "Don't worry, I won't let you fall."

"O-ok." Hinata smiled as Malkeru dragged her to the top of the statues. It really was a beautiful night, the stars shone brightly among the night sky.

"Isn't it beautiful?" Hinata said, looking at Hinata. "Sometimes, when I wonder about my parents, I would come here and know they were watching me, protecting me."

"I'm sure they are proud of you, wherever they are." Malkeru held back his feelings about his parents, learning that they had kept his brother and not him had given him a worse image of them.

"Ya," He faked a smile "I'm sure they are." Hinata started shivering, and Malkeru noticed. Taking his arm, he pulled Hinata into him, their forms becoming one. Hinata was shocked, but didn't fight it. Malkeru was warm, and helped her warm up herself. Malkeru was surprised when she leaned her head on his chest, he found he quite liked it. 'So, is this happiness?' Malkeru wondered as he sat there, his heart racing in his chest. Hinata and Malkeru sat like that all night, silent in their happiness.


	13. Chapter 13 - The first match!

The next morning, Malkeru returned back to the training. Actually arriving thirty minutes early. His heart raced all night, he spent most of the night talking to his sister Hana about what happened..

_"Sooo..what happened to put a smile that big on your face?" Hana was up waiting for Malkeru. Malkeru just kept smiling._

_ "I..I think I love Hinata." Hana squealed at that, a surprising thing for her. Malkeru never knew her to be this girly._

_ "I knew it! I knew it knew it! You two spent way too much time together not to have something! So what happened? Tell me everything!"_

_ "Well..we were sitting on the Hokage statue watching the stars..she was cold, so I pulled her closer to me to warm her up." Hana giggled again, making Malkeru blush as bad as Hinata._

_ "Then what!?" _

_ "She..she leaned her head on my chest. My heart started racing and..I felt really happy.."  
"Well, duh. Normal thirte- I'm sorry, FOURTEEN year old boys like girls Mal. And Hinata is very cute..."_

Malkeru smiled, had he and Hinata really shared that moment last night? Kurenai arrived twenty minutes later.

"Alright Mal, ready to go?"

"Huh? What about Kiba and...Hinata.."

"I gave them today off. This part of the training is for you and I only, no one else is to know of it." Malkeru was obviously confused by it. "The past two weeks I've been teaching you to break and do genjutsu. Now you're going to do it with just your eyes, on me."

"What? I still don't know how to do it!"

"Then listen, I'm going to tell you. You know the chakra release required for genjutsu right? All you have to do, in theory, is focus that chakra control to your eyes instead of your hands, and all at once."

"In theory?"

"Well, I don't have the Sharingan Mal!" Kurenai composed herself and began again. "We're starting now." Kurenai charged at him, kunai drawn. Malkeru activated his Sharingan and was able to dodge, barely.

"What the hell Kurenai!" Malkeru kept dodging, each time her kunai getting closer.

"Do you expect the enemy to allow you to sit around and mold your chakra into your eyes? No! You must be able to do this while fighting!" Malkeru dodged another barrage of kunai strikes and began to mold chakra into his eyes.

'Damnit! Mom was right! She is as crazy as her!' All at once, Malkeru grabbed Kurenai, forcing her eyes to meet his, releasing all of the chakra he molded at once through his Sharingan. Kurenai froze, her eyes widening. She trembled stepping back. "Oh no..no no no..what did I do!" Quickly Malkeru made a ram sign "KAI!" he released the genjutsu, causing Kurenai to fall to her knees, panting heavily.

"That..that is the most powerful genjutsu I have ever seen. It's ahead of anything I can do, and I am called the genjutsu master of Konoha.." Kurenai raised herself, attempting to compose herself again. "There is nothing left to teach you Mal, take these last eight days before the exam and rest. Some light sparring to keep you loose, but nothing stressful. I'm..I'm proud of you." She seemed to beam at Malkeru. "Now go, Hinata told me about last night, and I'm sure you wanna see her." Malkeru took off, heading for the Hyuga complex. When he arrived, Ko was waiting for him.

"Stop." He said, holding a hand to the boy. "You are not allowed to see miss Hinata."

"What?!" Malkeru was shocked. "Why not?!" Ko gave the boy a sympathetic stare.

"Please, let me finish. Mr. Hiashi knows about last night with you and Miss Hinata. He overheard her talking to Miss Hanabi. You cannot see Miss Hinata until you speak with Mr. Hiashi."

"Oh god..." Malkeru was scared. Hiashi Hyuga was a very scary person, especially when it came to his daughters.

"I'll lead you to him." Ko said, guiding Malkeru to a room in the back of Hinata's house. "Although, let me say this. I am not jealous of you." He opened the study door, revealing the scarily calm form of Hiashi Hyuga.

"Malkeru Inuzuka, sit." Even with his voice calm, Hiashi was scarier than his mom when she yelled at him.

"Y-yes sir." Malkeru took a seat in the chair across from Hiashi's desk. 'Oh god...I'm stuttering now..need to calm myself' Without drawing attention Malkeru started to meditate, calming his heart rate. Or so he thought..

"Ah meditation? A good way to calm the heart rate, but, there is no need to be scared Malkeru."

"Sir?"

"I am not afraid of you hurting my daughter, in fact, I wanted to thank you."

"Thank...me..?" Malkeru was beyond confused.

"Yes, thank you. Since Hinata began associating with you, her shyness has almost completely gone. Her gentle fist is much better, she's even able to finally beat Hanabi. So, thank you." Hiashi looked down at some more papers, allowing Malkeru to gather his thoughts. "However, there is the matter of you and my daughter. Just know this, if you lay a hand on her inappropriately, I will find you, and not even your mother or her largest dogs will be able to protect you, understood?" Malkeru gulped, how could one man be this scary.

"U-understood sir!"

"Good, now, because I have to play the strong father to everyone around here, I have forbidden Hinata to see you until after the chunin exams. Good day."

The next eight days went by pretty quickly, and amazingly Malkeru took it pretty easy. He sparred a bit with Kiba, but besides that he rested and meditated a lot. The day before the test all of the genins went to the beach to get one final day of relaxation in. Hinata wasn't allowed to go, which made Malkeru a bit sad, but it wasn't totally unexpected.

The morning of the test had arrived. Malkeru was already up and dressed when his mother came to wake him up.

"You ready hun?" his mother came up behind him, holding a doggy bag for Malkeru. "I thought it would be nice if you had a lunch, no telling how long these exams are gonna be." Malkeru smiled taking the bag from his sister and heading out. He ran into Shikamaru on his way there.

"Oi, Shikamaru, you ready?" Shikamaru had his usual 'I-don't-care-this-is-too-troublesome' look on. Malkeru always hated that look, Shikamaru was a literal genius and wasted it.

"Ya..let's go together I guess." They walked in silence, both realizing small talk would do nothing. As they walked more genin followed in line, eventually the whole 'team' was there, besides Sasuke and Naruto. When they reached the gates, everyone stopped. Just staring at their future. "So..this is it huh?"

"Hn." Neji walked forward, leaving them behind.

"Dick.." Malkeru looked at all his friends, they were smiling as if to say ' You can do this'. "Alright Shikamaru...I guess this is us.." Together they stepped through the tunnel and onto the field, the crowd was already roaring when they stepped in. The nin stood there, still faced waiting for the other competitors to arrive. Malkeru looked to the crown and saw Hinata, his face felt hot and Shikamaru snickered at him. Naruto made a dramatic last minute entrance, screaming something about bulls or something, but Malkeru payed him no attention. He had no idea who his enemy was, he had never bothered to ask.

"Alright...first match." The proctor from the preliminary matches had showed up in front of them, in the usual puff of smoke they had all become acquainted to. "Malkeru Inuzuka versus Kinuta Dosu." A sound ninja stepped forward, on his arm he wore a long metal piece with holes riddling it. The other nin cleared the field, leaving Malkeru and Kinuta on the field.

"That's an interesting piece on your arm." Malkeru said, pointing at the metal.

"Yes. You'll see just how interesting soon."

"BEGIN!" Malkeru sprung into action, launching a few quick kicks at Kinuta, all of them dodged.

"My turn." Kinuta launched a slow haymaker at Malkeru, which he easily dodged without Sharingan.

"Was that your best sh- AHHHH" Malkeru grabbed his ears, they felt wet and Malkeru realized it was blood. "What the hell?!"

"You're right, my metal is interesting. Do you know how the ear works?" Malkeru stared at the man, what the hell did his ears have to do with this?

"The basic principle of it. Sound waves pass through the ear canal and hit the eardrum, which then perceives the sound." Malkeru was still holding his ears, what was this bastard doing?

"A simple explanation, but close enough. Do you see these holes in the gauntlet I wear? When the metal is struck, they emit high frequency sound waves. Sound waves that cause tears inside the ear canal and even the ear drum. So, you see, I don't even have to hit you to hurt you!"

'Shit!' Malkeru activated his Sharingan 'I can't get close enough for Genjutsu, not with that gauntlet...but maybe...' Malkeru started making hand signs "Katon! Gōenka no Jutsu!"(Fire style: Great flame flowers!) Malkeru jumped into the air, releasing three bullets of fire. The fire rained down on Kinuta like meteors, he was barely able to dodge them, the heat of the fire scorching him.

"You bastard!" But Malkeru was already on him, throwing Kunai at him. Kinuta blocked with his gauntlet, causing another wave of sound to emit from it. Malkeru fought through the pain, throwing jabs and kicks at the shinobi, just to have them all blocked by his gauntlet. Every blocked blow hurt Malkeru more, causing blood to poor from his ears. Hinata was sitting in the stands, watching, hoping he would be okay

'Mal..' she put her hands on her knees gripping so hard she could feel her nails digging into flesh

"YOU CAN DO IT MAL!" Naruto was cheering from the competitors balcony, and even Neji was watching with interest. Malkeru just kept on it.

'NOW!' Malkeru gathered chakra in his fist, driving it hard towards Kinuta. The blow was easily blocked with his large metal gauntlet, causing Malkeru to smile. "From here on out, you have no advantage.." Malkeru smiled, hitting the gauntlet on purpose. His ears had stopped bleeding, and he stood straight, showing no signs of anguish.

"What?! Why doesn't the sound hurt you."

"You're not the only one who knows something about sound. I may not be a full Inuzuka, but my hearing is about two times more acute than the average persons. Compared to Kiba's fifteen times, it's not really that much. But it's enough to beat you."

"I don't understand what that even means." Kinuta's eyes were as wide as dinner plates, causing Malkeru to laugh.

"You lost the moment you explained to me how your gauntlet worked. You can't tell me you really didn't see my combination attack?"

"Combination attack..?"

"Fine, I've always wanted to do something so surprising and cool I had to explain it. It all started with my fire jutsu, I used a slow one on purpose. I knew no fire jutsu would hit you, not in an arena this large, I simply wanted the heat from it."

"What? Wait..no..you-"

"Yup." Malkeru smiled a devilish smiled that Kiba knew meant his brother had done something brilliant. "I simply wanted to heat the metal on your arm. The kunai were the second part, a way to allow me to get close that wouldn't arouse suspicion, it also allowed me to draw your attention to me so I could put you in a genjutsu."

"Genjutsu? But..you never made hand signs!"

"With the Sharingan I don't have to." Neji over heard Malkeru and looked to Naruto.

"Did your teammate just say Sharingan? I thought he was an Inuzuka not an Uchiha."

"Malkeru isn't an Uchiha, he just has some weird mutation that somehow allowed him to unlock the Sharingan. He explained it to me, but it just confused me."

"Of course it did.." Neji gave Naruto a cold stare before returning to watching the match.

"..With the Sharingan, I can suggest movements to anyone I can make eye contact with. I'll be honest, I'm not very good with it yet, but I can still make small suggestions like 'block don't dodge'. I knew you would block all my taijutsu with that gauntlet of yours, who wouldn't? Every time I hit the heated metal it started to warp, slowly changing the pitch and frequency of the sound. That's the problem with using sound manipulating devices, they're tuned so precisely you can't really use them as a defensive weapon."  
"I see..no one has ever thought to attack the gauntlet before. I guess from here on out we're on even footing."

Malkeru smirked, almost laughing at Kinuta. "Nope. Not even close." Malkeru body flickered, appearing behind the sound nin. With his elbow, he hit Kinuta in the head, causing him to stumble forward. Malkeru used his inertia to bring his arm back around, driving his fist into the nins gut, causing his bandage wrapped face to become stained with the blood he coughed up.

'Mal!' Hinata found herself standing, cheering for her friend. Her father hid a smile, he had to say, he could understand why Hinata liked the boy so much. He was very clever.

"Now, I'll end this!" Malkeru grabbed the sides of Kinuta's head with both his hands, forcing him to stare into Malkeru's eyes. Just like with Kurenai, he released his stored chakra in one burst through his eyes, putting Kinuta into the same genjutsu.

"Wh-what is is this?!" Kinuta dropped to his knees, grasping his head. "Ah! Stop this! I FORFEIT! I GIVE!" Malkeru quickly made the ram sign.

"Kai!" The boy still writhed in pain. "I don't...Kai!...Kai!...Kai!Kai!Kai!KAI!" Malkeru didn't understand, he couldn't break the jutsu.

"BASTARD STOP THIS! I FORFEITED!" He was coughing up blood, Malkeru panicked. He focused his chakra, attempting to break the jutsu again. Nothing seemed to be working "FINE! IF THIS IS WHAT YOU WANT FINE!" Kinuta drew a kunai from his holster, flipping it in his hands, he drove it into his neck. The boy died instantly in front of Malkeru, his Sharingan making it all go in slow motion.

"N-n-no.." Malkeru dropped to his knees, what had happened. The crowd was so loud, but Malkeru barely heard them, lost in his own thoughts 'Why are they cheering? He died...he died an unnecessary death..' The proctor had announced him winning, but Malkeru heard nothing. Naruto had to come escort him off the field, he didn't know what was going on around him. He felt cold, he knew ninjas had to kill..but he never wanted to commit murder..

"Hmph, idiot." Neji was looking directly at Malkeru, giving him the same cold stare he gave everyone.

"Neji, not now." Naruto told him, pushing him back.

"No Naruto, this failure deserves to hear this. You used a jutsu you hadn't perfected on an enemy you could have easily beaten. You killed that man, you killed him because you were weak. But, what else am I going to expect? It's no wonder your own clan didn't want you." Malkeru just stared blankly ahead.

"Naruto?" Malkeru didn't drop his expression at all.

"Ya?"

"You and Neji are next, right?"

"Ya, why?" Before anyone saw it coming, Malkeru punched Neji in the face as hard as he could, sending Neji over the rafters onto the field. No one outside of the competitors area saw this happen, but, Hinata felt like she strangely liked Malkeru more for some reason.

"Naruto..don't just beat him..destroy him." Malkeru had activated his Sharingan, giving his eyes an evil red glow.

"Y-ya Mal, whatever your say." Naruto awkwardly walked out of the room to go to his match.

Malkeru clenched his fist, why did Neji talk to him like that? What gave him the fucking right? He noticed the Gaara staring at him, he wore the weirdest smile, as if he enjoyed watching Malkeru commit violence. Malkeru decided to go sit in the Konoha resident section of the arena, hoping he'd see Sakura or someone besides these creepy sand nin.


	14. Chapter 14

"Mal! Over here!" Sakura stood up, waving him over. He saw Hinata was with her, Hiashi and Ko accompanying the young Hyuga. Malkeru gave a hopeful look to Hinata, hoping her father wouldn't object to him being that close to her.

"Hey Sakura." Malkeru took a seat and much to his delight, Hiashi completely ignored the boy. His feigned Hyuga pride had worked in Malkeru's advantage, even if it was a slight one.

"Mal, your match was amazing! The way you countered his sound gauntlet was brilliant!" Sakura beamed at him, she really seem impressed by something Malkeru had completely winged.

"Thanks Sakura..." Malkeru faked a smile, but on the inside he was torn. His Genjutsu was too powerful for him to break, did that make him a murderer? Or did it simply make him a boy who had gone too far in over his head? His head ached, as if two entities were having a death match over who was right.

"Inuzuka." Malkeru was surprised to see Hiashi talking to him. The man's cold, gray eyes piercing his own. "There is no need to attack yourself for what happened down there. That sound ninja would have killed you for no reason. Do not let your kind heart die because of him." Malkeru stared at the man. Why was he helping Malkeru? "Hinata, I am going to get a better view of Neji's fight. Don't talk to the Inuzuka while I'm gone." Malkeru thought for even a fraction of a second his Sharingan had caught a slight smirk rise from the mouth of the Hyuga clan head. "Ko, would you like to join me?" Ko gave Malkeru a final smile, not even attempting to hide it, before her joined his leader as his duty as a branch member dictated. Hinata had barely waited for her father to be out of earshot before she began quickly assaulting Malkeru with her opinions on the match, he enthusiasm brought a smile to Malkeru's face.

"Your match was amazing, like Sakura said. I didn't know your Sharingan Genjutsu was good enough to suggest moves to people yet!" Hinata smiled at him and Malkeru found himself smiling even harder, he couldn't be sad around this girl, no matter how hard he tried.

"Er, thanks. I'll be honest, I didn't either. I was just hoping for the best." Malkeru said as he gave he scratched the back of his head, a trait he had picked up from months of being a teammate of Naruto's. The noise level of the stadium began to take leaps and bounds as Malkeru saw his favorite orange clad shinobi entering the arena. Already standing in the middle of the giant area was Neji, who Malkeru had knocked down in his anger. When the announcer finally decided that the crows mirth was not going to die down, he decided to begin the match.

Naruto began the match quickly by tossing a few Kunai at Neji, which the Hyuga genius easily dodged. Neji had even managed to pluck one of the air before sending it into one of the clones Naruto had summoned. Malkeru tried desperately to pay attention, but his inner turmoil was still getting the best of him. His view of the match drifted in and out as he watched his friend get pulverized by Neji, his strikes becoming quicker and quicker as the match progressed. Malkeru finally noticed him switching into a stance he recognized instantly from many duels with Hinata. Malkeru's face grew into a mask of shock, he wouldn't really use that Taijutsu this early in the competition would he?

"Shit." Malkeru muttered without realizing. He reactivated his Sharingan, nudging Hinata to activate her Byukugan so they could watch Naruto's chakra levels. He wasn't going to let the dobe's 'never give up' attitude get him killed.

"What is it?" Sakura asked, sensing her friends unease.

"It's Neji." Malkeru explained. "He just dropped into the 'Eight Trigrams' stance, and Naruto is in his area of divination.

"His what?" Saukra asked, confused.

"His area of divination." Malkeru continued to explain. "The Hyuga style of Taijutsu, also called the Jyuuken, is a style that relies on sending chakra into key areas of the body that channel chakra. I think we learned about them in the academy, also called Tenketsu."

"The 'Eight Trigrams' is our most powerful ability." Hinata added in. "It is a quick set and precise set of attacks that target the eight, sixteen, thirty-two, or sixty-four most essential Tenketsu in the body."

"Why the varying degree of strikes?" Sakura asked.

"The 'Eight Trigrams' is the most graceful of Hyuga attacks, it takes years of training and practice to quickly close just the eight most essential Tenketsu. Hinata has been studying her whole life and can only close thirty-two before she loses balance and is forced to withdraw." Malkeru said.

"Correct." Hinata added. "It's said that the most powerful and gifted of Hyugas could even use the 'Eight Trigrams: One-hundred-twenty-eight palms'"

"Seeing as there are only three-hundred-sixty-one Tenketsu in the body, being hit with a full One-hundred-twenty-eight palm attack could be very deadly in a battle." Malkeru said with finality teeming in his voice.

"Well, Mal, you and Hinata spar all the time don't you? How do you combat her thirty-two palms?" Sakura asked.

"I don't. If I get in her area of divination it's pretty much an end to the match. Even with my Sharingan I can barely dodge one or two of the strikes, they are very quick and deadly precise." Malkeru said.

"Then how do you beat her?"

"I've taught myself to force open the Tenketsu in my body over the months, I'm still not very good at it and it takes a lot of chakra to accomplish. Not to mention the amount of chakra control it takes. For you and I, it's really not a problem, but Naruto.." Malkeru let his sentence trail off, the entire group nodding as they recognized Naruto's one major flaw. It wasn't really his fault, the pure amount of Chakra he had would have been near impossible for even a Jonin to have control over.

"It's true." Hinata added in. "My gentle style has little to no effect on him, I can only beat him by sealing multiple Tenketsu at once, or within a few seconds."

"Why all at once?"

"If she closes a lot of my tenketsu at once, it will take too much chakra to open them and I can't use Sharingan to dodge future attacks."

"Wow. That's quite an impressive ability for one clan to have." Sakura commented.

"It's the only ability in Konoha capable of besting the Sharingan as far as I know." Malkeru said.

The group watched as Neji struck out at Naruto, his hands a shapeless blur as he assaulted the boy's body. Naruto jerked around like a rag doll under the impact of Neji Jyuuken infused strikes. Sharingan activated, Malkeru watched as Naruto's flow of Chakra slowly diminshed until nothing poured out of his core. His body seemed to just stop moving and his breath increased, Malkeru knew that if a miracle didn't happen he had lost this match.

"Neji closed off most of Naruto's Tenketsu." Hinata said. "At this point, even the basic Taijutsu would be too much strain on his body."

"So you're saying Naruto has no chance?" Sakura seemed to fall at this, did she care about Naruto all of a sudden?"

Malkeru smiled. "Not at all. After all, Naruto is the number one unpredictable Ninj-" Malkeru stopped, something in Naruto had changed. His chakra morphed from the calming blue sea that usually radiated within him, to a demonic cesspool of red energy that seemed to radiate from every pore in his body. 'Red Chakra..? What is this? The Kyuubi?'

"N-n-Naruto has..he opened every single Tenketsu in his body!" Hinata nearly shouted, her pale gray Byukugan were wide in shock and her mouth lay gaped open.

"This..chakra..it's visible!" Sakura said with fear in her voice as she pointed at Naruto. Sharingan still activated, Malkeru hadn't even noticed that the Chakra he had seen was actually visible to everyone. He had just assumed only Hinata and he could see it.

"His power...it's unbelievable!" Malkeru said. The ground beneath the blonde boy began to crack as his chakra leaked even further out of his body. Adjusting one foot Naruto seemed to disappear, his speed had increased to unbelievable heights. Even Malkeru was having trouble tracking him with his Sharingan.

"H-how is he doing that?!" Hinata was standing just like everyone else in the audience.

"I..I don't..I don't know." Sakura looked almost scared of Naruto, his chakra was amazing! Naruto ran in, ready to end it with a final punch! Allowing chakra to pour from every Tenketsu in his body, Neji span, creating a dome of chakra around him for protection. Kunai drawn, Naruto's monstrous strength met with the wall creating a radiating light from the source of contact.

"Gah!" Malkeru screamed, covering his eyes with one arm. With Sharingan active, he was hyper-sensitive to bright light sources causing his head to pound in agony if he stared too long.

When the light cleared, Neji and Naruto were on separate ends of the field. Each laid in a crater they had created, their bodies seemingly lifeless as they lay motionless inside. After much time Naruto slowly rose himself up, using all of the strength he could muster to combat the blow he had just taken. He had begun to speak but Malkeru couldn't hear a word he said, no matter how hard he strained his sensitive hearing. Over a crowd of this size, it was useless to out of nowhere Naruto burst up form underneath where Neji stood, breaking the ground beneath him and knocking the genius out cold. The Naruto in the crater vanished in a puff of smoke, it's job as a distraction finished.

"Winner..Naruto Uzumaki." Everyone in the crowd cheered. Malkeru and company were all silent with shock.

"Nar..uto...beat...Neji.." Malkeru managed to sound out. "He beat...the genius Hyuga.."

"That's Naruto for you!" Sakura was cheering now, and even Hinata was dancing around with the pink haired girl. Malkeru just sat there, completely awestruck. The idiot shinobi who finished dead last in their class beat the genius Hyuga who was said to be the one to definitely make Chunin this year.

As Malkeru sat there, he felt a pair of eyes on him. A normal person would have just been able to shake this feeling off and continue the celebration, but shinobi were not normal people. As Malkeru stole a few glances around him he noticed several ANBU black ops around him, but one of them seemed off to him. He had been extensively keeping track of every ANBU in an attempt to somehow win the favor of them. He had never seen this ANBU before and he knew he wasn't a new guy, ANBU were appointed at the same time as new Chunin to save the Hokage paperwork. Malkeru raised himself from his chair to investigate, but Hinata grabbed his arm. She had a worried look on her face, as if she didn't want him to leave.

"Where are you going Mal?" She asked, a tone of curiosity in her voice.

"Just..need a second to clear my head. Got a headache." Hinata let him go and he headed off toward the ANBU that had made the alarms in his head sound off.

"Hello!" Malkeru said, smiling. "How are you today?" The ANBU looked at him and although Malkeru couldn't read his face through the mask, he had a feeling that the ANBU wasn't all that happy about a kid bothering him.

"What do you need child?" The ANBU was short, nearly the same height as Malkeru. His white hair showed through the back of his mask and was pulled back into a pony tail.

"Oh, not much. I was just wondering something, and I thought you might be the perfect person to help me out. Someday I hope to become strong enough to become ANBU just like you, and I was hoping you could tell me what the first step is?" Malkeru faked his innocence the best he could, hoping to get the man to bite.

"Erm, sure kid." The masked man said. "The first step is to master one thousand jutsu, after that it's easy sailing."

'Got him' Malkeru thought to himself. As a child Malkeru had been even more intent on joining the ranks of ANBU, to the point he had spied on the Hokage as a personal mission to find out to become a member of the elite squad. Naruto had showed him the finer points of sneaking into the Hokage's office, as the blonde boy had been doing it most of his life to pull pranks on the man he called "Jiji".

Luckily for Malkeru, the one time he had actually been able to spy on the old mans office by crawling through the ventilation shaft, he had struck gold. He had stumbled onto a meeting the third Hokage was having with Danzo, the head of the ANBU black ops himself. The two men discussed many things, one of which was a list of new candidates for ANBU. Though no one knew exactly how the Hokage decided who he would nominate, Malkeru knew for a fact some of the people nominated barely knew ten jutsu let alone a thousand.

"Wow! One thousand Jutsu? That's incredible! You must know the Gokakyu no jutsu then if you know that many!" Malkeru said, again faking innocence and excitement.

"Er, ya, sure kid."

"Could you show me the hand signs for it? It's the one fire Jutsu I'm really struggling with, and no one will take the time to help me."

"What?"

"Please? I wanna be ANBU someday and if I need to learn one thousand Jutsu this is a good palce to start isn't it?!" Malkeru faked innocence, he doubted the faker knew much about him aside from what he had just demonstrated in the exam.

"Er sure. I'll show you the hand signs, but I can't do any jutsu here in a crowded place."

"Of course." Malkeru raised his hands below his eyes as if he was watching close, hiding his Sharingan. After all, he didn't know how fast the man could fake his way through hand signs. The Anbu performed a few hand signs before Malkeru stopped him.

"Those aren't the hand signs for Gokakyu no Jutsu." Malkeru said, performing the real hand signs. "These are. Just who are yo-" Before Malkeru could finish his accusation the masked man had hit him over the head, effectively knocking him unconscious. When Malkeru finally came to, his head throbbing, he found himself seated next to Hinata. Malkeru quickly looked around to get a bearing on his surroundings.

Kakashi had appeared next to Sakura, presumably returning Sasuke from his training. In the main area, Sasuke had his hand deep inside a large ball of what appeared to be sand. Blood trickled from a small cut in his arm, but it didn't look too bad.

"Oh, Mal! You're awake." Hinata said as she took notice of the stirring form next to her. "A nice Anbu agent brought you over, He said that you were complaining about being sick, then passed out while in front of him. We were going to take you to a hospital, but Kakashi said you'd be fine."

"And it appears I was right." The white haired Sensei said from his perch next to Sakura. "Besides, I really didn't want to miss Sasuke's match."

"Ya Mal, you even missed the best part! Sasuke learned Kakashi's raikiri! Although..he called his Chidori."

"Ya..where is the Anbu agent?" Malkeru said, trying to hide the obvious tone of worry in his voice."

"Uhhhh, I don't know." Hinata answered. "Why?"

"Because I don't think he's really AN-" As Malkeru spoke he became distracted by what appeared to be feathers falling down from the heavens. As Malkeru continued to watch he felt a weight gain on his shoulder, looking down to see Hinata had fallen asleep on his arm. Sakura rested her head on Kakashi's shoulders. Both shinobi looked at each other before realizing what was happening. "Genjutsu?" Malkeru asked his sensei. "But who has the skill to do one of this magnitude."

"I don't know Kakashi said, that's what worries me."

From behind them Malkeru the sound of an explosion ravaged Malkeru's ears, causing him to cover them to keep his ear drums from bursting any worse than they already were form his fight with Dosu.

"Operation Start!" a voice rang out from behind Malkeru as several shinobi jumped into action. They all wore the haite-ate of the sand village around their bodies, and the appeared to be dangerous.

"Damnit!" Malkeru said as he tried to compose himself. His ears were still ringing and his body was weak from his fight earlier. Kakashi and Gai Sensei appeared in front of Malkeru, successfully blocking the three shinobi that had tried to kill him while had had been distracted by his own injuries.

"Well my youthful rival, it appeared as if we have been tricked by ones who we called our allies. How unyouthful of them!"

"It would appear so Gai. Mal, it's genjutsu, so please dispel Hinata, Sakura, Naruto and Shikamaru." Malkeru looked behind him and noticed that two boys laid unconscious on the ground behind them. He hadn't even noticed them joining the group in his stupor from being knocked out.

"Yes sensei." Malkeru moved to each person, touching them and channeling chakra into them to disrupt the chakra flow on their brain caused by Genjutsu. "Kai!" he repeated as he reached each person, releasing them from the confines of the Genjutsu. When he got to Shikamaru his face drew into a scowl as he realized the boy hadn't been under a Genjutsu, just laying there the whole time.

"You lazy bastard..you've been free this entire time.."

Shikamaru just moaned "I didn't wanna be bothered...I don't give a damn about fighting.." Behind him Malkeru heard Kakashi mutter something about Orochimaru and his skin crawled.

'That crazy snake sanin? What the hell...'

"Malkeru. You are to help the Jonin rescue the villagers, kill any sand nin you see." Kakashi was still mid fight while telling all of this, but that didn't stop the precision and power of his strikes as he fell sand shinobi one after the other. "Sakura, Naruto, Shikamaru, hunt down Gaara and help Sasuke." As Kakashi finished killing another of what appeared to be a seemingly endless sea of shinobi, he bit his thumb and made a few quick hand signs saying: "Kuchiyose no Jutsu!" (summoning technique) a small dog appeared, Malkeru instantly recognized him as one of Kakashi's nin-kin that he had summoned during the fight with Zabuza. "Pakkun will go with you."

"But Kakashi!" Malkeru protested. "I should be going with them to save Sasuke! He's my teammate!" Malkeru didn't feel it necessary to mention that Sasuke was also his twin brother, a fact Malkeru often wished he himself could forget.

"Malkeru, Orochimaru is after the Sharingan. If I sent you, I would be sentencing you to go through the same things Sasuke is right now. Trust me when I say this Malkeru, I am doing this out of my selfishness as a teacher not to want to see my students hurt. Now all of you, go!"

"Damnit." Malkeru said as he ran off. From the corner of his eyes he noticed two sand nin chasing a pair of little children, the eyes of the shinobi told Malkeru all he needed to know. They were going to kill those kids they caught him. Malkeru quickly body flickered in front of the two kids, pulling them out of harms reach as the two shinobi released a earth style jutsu where they had been.

Setting the kids down, Malkeru made the hand signs of his new favorite jutsu, the adrenaline coursing through his body pushing his speed to a level comparable to Kakashi. As lightning filled one of his hands, he quickly clapped them together, converting some of the chakra into both of his palms. As both of the men got into striking distance he launched himself, hands ready to strike.

"Daburu Rakiri!" (Double Lightning Blade) Malkeru roared as both of his hands found allowance in the chest of the two men. Malkeru let out a devilish smile as the familiar sound of a dead body hitting the ground filled his ears. Turning to face the children, he didn't even realize what a terrifying sight he was to the two civilians.

His blood red Sharingan seemed to glow with a demonic power, his frustration and anger channeling through them. His hands were now blood soaked and covered in various bodily gore that came with stabbing them through another human being. Malkeru quickly gave them an innocent smile in his best attempt to calm them. "Hey guys, I'm Malkeru." He said, holding out a blood soaked hand that the children unsurprisingly avoided.

As another shinobi charged them Malkeru dug into the pouch that lay on the side of his leg, digging out a kunai. Quickly he slashed upwards, causing crimson red gushes of blood to pour of the man's jugular veins. His limp body fell forward in front of the kids, possibly scaring them for the rest of their lives.

"Kids. It's okay." Malkeru said as he quickly carried the two small bundles away from the scene of carnage. They couldn't have been older than four or five and already they had seen their first death, it was something Malkeru wouldn't have wished upon his worst enemies. Yet, he had to cause his own villagers to go through it to save their life. When they were finally a safe distance away Malkeru set them down. He could see that they feared him, and he didn't blame them, they had just watched him kill three men with little effort after all.

"Guys. Look at me." Malkeru said as he deactivated his Sharingan. "I'm a normal person just like you, okay? Not all shinobi are like the bad man in there." Malkeru gestured to the bloodstained haite-ate that lay resting on his arm. "You see this? It's called a haite-ate, the symbol on it is the very symbol of our village. When I put this on, I swore I would die to protect the life of the people of this village if it came to it. Do you understand?"

"Y-yes m-m-mister" one of the kids said, his eyes were soaked with tears and he was sniffling pretty terribly. "But what should we do? We can't find our mommy or daddy anywhere."

Malkeru pointed at the Hokage statue. "The villagers are all going to be headed there, if your mom or dad made it out of the arena already that's where they'll be waiting." He gave them each a warming hand on the shoulder before continuing. "I need you guys to be brave now, okay. I have to stay here and help more people, so you're going to have to head there alone. You guys are small, so use that to your advantage. Stay low and keep in the shadows. If you see a leaf shinobi out there have them guide you the rest of the way. Remember, if they don't have the same symbol as me their bad guys and you need to avoid them. Got it?"

The two children nodded as they ran down the long hallway that led out of the arena. Malkeru took a deep breath before he continued into the fray that the chunin exams had turned into. Using a fire style jutsu, he managed to burn four more sand shinobi badly, bad enough that they would have to get a skin graft if they ever wanted to use their legs again without excruciating pain. To his left, Kakashi and Gai were both fighting harder than he thought was possible for two human beings.

"Yosh! My youthful rival, I have taken down fourteen sand shinobi! It appears so far I am winning our battle of eternal youth!" Gai called as he finished another shinobi with a flourish of kicks.

"...I'm sorry, did you say something Gai?" Kakashi said in his usual cool demeanor.

"Gah! Darn your cool and hip attitude Kakashi!"

"Malkeru!" Kakashi called to him, ushering him over.

"Yes sensei?" Malkeru called as he finished striking at the chest of a sand shinobi that was attempting to grab a woman escaping.

"Come and join my and Gai's contest, I'm interested to see how much you've grown during these exams." Kakashi gave Malkeru his signature 'eye smile' and sliced down two more sand nin, making it look like child's play.

"Hai sensei!" Malkeru called. Malkeru did his best to keep up with the speed and ferocity at which the two Jonin fought, even using his Sharingan to copy a few of their Taijutsu and Ninjutsu for later use. He soon found out though, there was a reason they were Jonin and he was only a Genin. By the time Malkeru had managed to strike down his twentieth opponent, Gai was already on his thirty-first, and Kakashi his thirty-fourth.

Every now and again Malkeru was able to spare a moment to cast a glance over at the Hokage's private booth, to check the progress on that front. Ever since the battle started, four sound nin had made a large black flame barrier around the Hokage, keeping ANBU from getting in. Malkeru silently prayed for the Hokage, someone strong and smart enough to deceive the entire village must truly be a terrifying foe.

After what seemed like hours, Malkeru stood panting and covered in blood from head to toe. Kakashi and Gai seemed to be equally tired, but at least they were all alive. Not as much could be said for the sea of corpses the three shinobi had created around them. Malkeru cast a nervous smile at his sensei as he tried to catch his breath, who returned it with his signature eye smile.

"You did good Malkeru, you really have grown." As Kakashi uttered those words the massive flame barrier dropped, and Malkeru and Kakashi noticed five blurs escaping from the midst of it. Malkeru doubted anyone without the fully matured Sharingan would have even noticed it, the speed behind whatever it could be was incredible.

Quickly and without pause the three men dashed for the Hokage's private booth, terror gripping at their heart. As they reached the large platform their eyes widened and their moods sunk and became somber. There, laying on the ground with a snake like sword protruding from his back, was the third Hokage. Malkeru wished he had never activated his Sharingan before jumping over here, he wished he could still have hope, but with his eyes he knew that their was no life beating within the chest of the man who had been like a kind old grandfather to everyone in the village.

"No.." Malkeru muttered. "It can't be.."

"How..can the old man be dead?" Kakashi asked seemingly no one and everyone. As a crowd began to gather, Malkeru felt himself becoming more and more distant with reality. The cold realization was finally hitting him. The Hokage was dead.


	15. News

Well, to be honest, I am not completely happy about this story. I am going to pretty much be rewriting it, and would like you no everyone's opinion on any changes they would like to see. Also, if anyone is interested, do need someone who is able to proof read as the person who usually did it is being well..stubborn, to say the least. Either PM me, or leave a review in response, please.


End file.
